British Airways cancels flights due to IT glitch leaving hundreds stranded

Travelers using the services of British Airways are having a hard  time getting to their various destinations due to flight cancellations and delays after an IT glitch crashed online check-ins.

British airways had cancelled 117 flights to or from Heathrow, as well as 10 at Gatwick, affecting more than 15,000 passengers.

Reports have it that 300 other flights have also been delayed, with some more than five hours behind schedule.

Most of the travellers who were greatly affected were ticketholders travelling to the UK from elsewhere including US, Japan and Vietnam.

Travellers arriving at Terminal 5 at Heathrow were greeted by message boards telling them “short-haul check-in is closed” and urging them to make their way back home.

However, the airline announced in the afternoon on Wednesday that the problem had been rectified.

The airline said it was offering customers booked on short-haul flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City the opportunity to rebook for another day.

It apologised for the issue as images of long queues at airports had gone viral and error messages on its app.

The airline, in response to the issue has published a stament of apology to its customers. It said “We apologise to all our customers caught up in the disruption, and appreciate how frustrating their experience has been”

“Our teams have been working tirelessly to get the vast majority of customers on their way, with most of our flights departing.

The statement added “flights are returning to normal, however there may be some knock-on operational disruption as a result of the issue earlier.”

Many passengers complained of not being given any prior notice , while others who had better experiences commended staff for “managing the chaos”.