British Airways apologises for global IT meltdown that resulted in huge delays

British Airways has apologized to passengers who were subjected to long delays early this morning. It’s believed an IT glitch that affected the airline’s check-in systems across the world was the reason for the holdup.

Many travelers at BA’s main London hubs, Gatwick and Heathrow, were delayed for over four hours as staff struggled to differentiate between customers that had passed through security and those who had only just checked in.

Shortly after the media picked up on the glitch, BA took to its official Twitter page to reveal that the problem had been fixed. It even went as far as to say that customers were being checked in “as normal” in London.

However, it seems that many passengers disagreed with this assessment, and took to their Twitter profiles to vent their frustration.

BA customer Amanda Velasquez tweeted that she had been queuing at Gatwick for over 45 minutes, and hadn’t yet made it to the counters.

@British_Airways not normal been on line at Gatwick for over 45 min and I haven't even made it to counter area got easily another hour to go

— Amanda Velasquez (@mandylin16) September 6, 2016

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Jim Payne was delayed for more than four hours and subsequently missed his onward flights.

@British_Airways I look forward to see how you'll work to keep brand loyalty for your customers delayed 4+ hours and missed onward flights

— Jim Payne (@BlackhorseCav85) September 6, 2016

Four hours later, it doesn’t look like BA have contacted him to rebook the flight he missed as a result of the delays.

@British_Airways How do we rebook or how will we be notified of rebooking cancelled BA226?

— Jim Payne (@BlackhorseCav85) September 6, 2016

David Manda was left on a JFK runway for over an hour. This led to him missing his connecting flight. He’s now faced with a three hour wait.

@British_Airways was left on JFK runway for one hour this morning BA116 and missed our connection and now have a 3hr plus delay if lucky!

— David Manda (@whataseason1112) September 6, 2016

So it’s clear that the delays are still having an effect on check-in times. BA’s solution? “Make sure you check-in online before you reach the airport.”