More than 10,000 British Airways passengers have had long-haul flights cancelled due to what the airline calls “a technical issue”.
Dozens of transatlantic flights to London were delayed or cancelled overnight – and at least 20 departures are grounded today because planes and crews are out of position.
So what does this mean for travel plans – and what rights do passengers have?
What happened?
The fault is understood to involve BA’s global flight planning system, which is essential to the airline’s operations. It failed as the nightly wave of overnight departures from the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean were preparing to depart.
The system appears to have been out of action for around four hours. Some flights managed to depart with long delays – typically between three and six hours – but on others the crew were reaching flight time limitations and the flights were either cancelled or delayed overnight.
Six flights – from Boston, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, New York JFK and Washington DC – have been cancelled outright.
Five more – from Toronto, Chicago, Boston, Nassau and Antigua – are delayed by around 24 hours.
And a further four, from Newark, Seattle, Toronto and Washington DC, are showing indefinite delays.
How many passengers are likely to be affected?
On that wave of around 35 flights, around 8,000-9,000. But there will be severe knock-on effects for other travellers in the days before Christmas. Ten of Tuesday’s long-haul departures from London Heathrow have been grounded as a result, with the inbound flights also cancelled.
One departure from Heathrow to each of Denver, Boston, Tokyo, Washington DC, Nashville, Chicago, Toronto has been grounded – with three New York JFK services also cancelled. The corresponding inbound flights from these US and Canadian cities will also be grounded. Tuesday’s cancelled flights alone were scheduled to carry at least 5,000 passengers.
From Gatwick. departures to Barbados, Punta Cana, Orlando and Doha are delayed by at least three hours.
What is the airline saying?
A BA spokesperson said: “Our teams have now resolved a temporary issue that affected some of our long-haul flight planning systems overnight, which resulted in delays to our schedule.
“We’re sorry for the disruption caused to our customers’ travel plans.”
British Airways has been approached for further information on how it plans to get people to their final destinations. Many of the passengers will have onward connections, whether to other UK airports, Continental destinations or further afield.
What rights do passengers have?
Under European air passengers’ rights rules, all passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to an alternative flight to their final destination on any airline as soon as possible. But seats are very limited so close to Christmas.
While they are waiting, the airline must provide hotels and meals as necessary.
In addition, since the issue was the responsibility of British Airways, each passenger who is delayed by four hours or more in reaching their final destination can claim £520 in cash compensation. (For delays in arrival of between three and four hours, the entitlement is halved to £260).
Will the UK Border Force strike beginning at Heathrow and Gatwick have an impact?
Heathrow airport has asked airlines to limit the number of passengers they fly in from Friday 23 December onwards when members of the PCS union working for UK Border Force will walk out for four days; another strike will cover the days from 28 December to New Year’s Eve.
If British Airways wished to arrange additional flights or open up more seats to accommodate disrupted passengers, it could impact the passport control operation.
