Tens of thousands of British Airways (BA) passengers experienced significant delays on Monday evening after the airline suffered another major IT failure, leading to missed connections and widespread frustration.
The issue, which began shortly after 5 pm GMT, affected communication systems at London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and various international airports.
Passengers reported delayed flights, grounded aircraft, and disruptions to BA’s website and app. A message on the website stated: “We are experiencing high demand on ba.com at the moment.”
Flight Delays and Missed Connections
Delays of up to two hours were reported on outbound flights from Heathrow to destinations such as Geneva, Vienna, and Vancouver. Domestic routes, including Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Newcastle, were also running significantly behind schedule.
Passengers transferring through Heathrow faced the added stress of missed connections.
For example, three evening flights from Manchester to Heathrow arrived at least two hours late, jeopardising onward journeys to destinations such as Abu Dhabi, Cape Town, and Rio.
The disruption wasn’t confined to outbound flights. Arrivals from European destinations were typically delayed by over an hour, with the final flight from Prague landing at midnight—well past the usual 10:55 pm cutoff.
The inbound flight from Johannesburg, scheduled for 4:45 am, arrived more than two hours late, impacting Tuesday morning schedules.
Passengers Vent Frustration
Many affected travellers turned to social media to express their frustration. Hector McNeil, stuck in Vienna, posted: “British Airways cmon let’s have some updates pls on the pc outage.”
His flight from Heathrow to Vienna, which landed on time, was delayed nearly two hours for its return journey. Between 5:45 pm and 8:45 pm, only one of BA’s dozens of scheduled departures from Heathrow departed on time—a flight to Rome.
Heathrow’s Complex Operations Compounded Issues
Heathrow’s tightly regulated operations left little room to absorb delays. Restrictions on flight hours and the complex nature of air-traffic control at the airport mean disruptions can quickly snowball into widespread cancellations.
BA Responds to the Incident
A British Airways spokesperson stated: “Our teams worked hard to resolve an issue we experienced for a short time earlier this evening. We’ve apologised to customers for delays to their flights and ensured they were able to reach their destinations as planned.”
By Tuesday, at least eight flights to and from Heathrow, including routes to Geneva, Milan Malpensa, and Nice, were cancelled. However, these cancellations were reportedly unrelated to Monday’s IT issues.
