Earlier today, British Airways was forced to cancel scores of flights due to a technical issue. Heathrow Airport shared on Twitter that the airline was experiencing troubles with several systems, which affected several British Airways departures and arrivals.

Chaos at London Heathrow

In 2023, as advanced as technology may be, technical issues are still frequent, like the one that occurred with British Airways at London Heathrow today. Over 100 flights were canceled as the airline experienced a technical issue with multiple systems. As of 22:41 London time, Flight Aware shows 118 cancelations, 17% of BA’s daily operations at Heathrow. A further 327 flights have been delayed, amounting to 49% of the carrier’s operations.

Affected passengers were offered refunds, rebooked with British Airways, or rebooked on another airline. According to the airline’s Twitter page, it is currently swamped with help requests from passengers. One tweet asks a passenger not to contact the airline unless traveling within 72 hours, as its support volume was high.

As expected, Heathrow is chaotic today, with numerous passengers having their flights canceled after checking in and checking bags. One passenger wrote on Twitter that BA rebooked him on another airline that charges baggage fees and that it will not cover those fees. The airline replied to the passenger on Twitter, sharing a link where a claim could be filed. Although the airline shared a link to file a claim, according to other Twitter users, they have waited for more than a month after filing a claim and have yet to hear from the airline.

Other passengers have been unable to reach anyone from the airline or rebook their flights, stating the website is not working. Passengers with Gold status have also expressed an inability to reach anyone on the dedicated line.

As an IT failure is considered an airline's fault, any interruption greater than three hours is entitled to compensation from the airline.

Recent problems

This is the second time British Airways has experienced an IT failure in six months, with the most recent occurrence on December 20, 2022. Before Christmas, BA experienced a technical problem with its flight planning system, leading to lengthy delays in long-haul flights.

BA’s routes to the United States were the most affected, with passengers sharing they had been in the airport for more than three hours awaiting departure. Others recounted their aircraft had pushed back from the gate only to return and wait several hours before departure.

At the time, the airline issued a statement saying,

“Our flights due to depart the USA tonight are currently delayed due to a technical issue with our third-party flight planning supplier, which we are urgently investigating."

Back in December, BA resolved the issues rather quickly, and only flights waiting for flight plans were affected. Although the technical issues impacted no short-haul flights, the delays in the US and other countries led to a series of missed connections, impacting the carrier's network for a few days.

However, frequent BA passengers know that the carrier faces IT issues every few weeks, leading to airport delays and long queues at Heathrow. Today has been particularly bad, leading to widespread cancelations and plenty of fallout in the coming days.

• 

  London Heathrow Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  LHR-EGLL

  Country:

  United Kingdom

  CEO:

  John Holland-Kaye

  Passenger Count :

  19,392,178 (2021)

  Runways :

  09L/27R - 3,902m (12,802ft) | 09R/27L - 3,660m (12,008ft)

  Terminals:

  Terminal 2 | Terminal 3 | Terminal 4 | Terminal 5

• 

  British Airways

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  BA/BAW

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport

  Year Founded:

  1974

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  Airline Group:

  IAG

  CEO:

  Sean Doyle

  Country:

  United Kingdom