Thousands of British Airways passengers around the world faced lengthy delays because of a computer glitch affecting the check-in system.
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BA, owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group, apologized to customers for the delays and urged passengers to check in online before they reached the airport. “We are sorry for the delays some customers are experiencing as they check-in for their flights”, it said in a statement.
British Airways has blamed “computer” problems for its inability to check in passengers worldwide.
The company also said it is “doing everything possible to check in customers for their journey”.
One passenger, Dana Al-Qatami, who was flying from Switzerland to London, was issued with a handwritten boarding pass on Tuesday morning.
There seem to be no cancellations so far, however. On Monday night, the flight, scheduled to depart at 8:40 p.m. was delayed until 11 p.m. However, we can not see how this helps because people still need to line-up at security, and British Airways’s system does not seem to show they have checked in.
The airline said that passengers at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports were impacted.
Passengers accused delays at check-in, at the luggage drop and waiting for take-off.
Last month, Delta Air Lines canceled over 1,500 flights after equipment failure at its Atlanta facility led to the worldwide shutdown of its computer systems (See: Delta Air still struggles to cope with systems crash on day 2).
Liv Boeree told the BBC that she had been forced to queue for her flight from Las Vegas for two and a half hours.
“Once we begin, check-in will be slower than normal, as information has to be recorded by hand”.
The airline said it was operating a limited number of services from Dublin and Amsterdam to London Southend Airport, with complimentary rail connection to London, to facilitate passengers disrupted by the actions at London City Airport.
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“The check-in system is now working and customers are being checked in as normal in London and overseas”.
