A “major IT outage” has reportedly led to British Airways grounding all flights out of Heathrow and Gatwick airports in London, causing passengers to frantically search for alternative options. The airline is laying blame for the massive disruption in service on a “global system outage” that they are working to resolve. In the meantime, no British Airline flights are leaving either airport at a time when many UK travelers are trying to skip town for the start of the student’s half-term school breaks.
In a statement released by British Airways, the airline apologized for the outage, and recommended anyone expecting to take one of their flights out of London sit tight, and not further the chaos going on at the airports by showing up before the problem has been resolved, via Al Jazeera:
“Please do not come to the airports. We have experienced a major IT system failure that is causing very severe disruption to our flight operations worldwide. We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience this is causing our customers and we are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”
British Airways mentions on Twitter have been flooded with passengers all over the world as the issues have caused chaos not only for those who originated from London but for those catching connecting flights through the two major British Airline portals.
@British_Airways just landed at Gatwick to find out my flight is canceled and you guys aren't even at your help desk. What do I do??
— Collin Gonzalez (@collinwgonzalez) May 27, 2017
@British_Airways I am currently sat in terminal 5 am I supposed to sit and wait for my flight to appear? It says please wait on the screen
— Damo Mahal (@DamoMahal) May 27, 2017
@British_Airways Help. My flight is at 1800 tonight from Heathrow. Does this mean its cancelled? If so, when and where do i reschedule?
— Michael Walters (@Mikey1112) May 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/sineaaaaaaaad/status/868464638043836417
Stuck on tarmac with BA system failure, what happens if my connecting flight is delayed / cancelled @British_Airways
— Graeme Menzies (@Gam154) May 27, 2017
@British_Airways I really want to help my Elderly parents. They are flying ALC to LGW tonight, but the inbound flight is canceled from LGW
— Ray Murphy (@rpsmurf) May 27, 2017
@British_Airways send managers down rather than letting ground floor staff deal with the chaos. My flight is on time according to the app! pic.twitter.com/VamGnhxPXK
— Kate Bradley (@Kate_Brads) May 27, 2017
@British_Airways If flight is canceled (but not showing as) what will happen to bag? Can I go home and await BA to repatriate my bag?
— wizzdarlo (@wizzdarlo) May 27, 2017
(Via Al Jazeera and BBC)