Some passengers even posted photographs on social media of hand-written boarding passes.
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“At this time we are experiencing problems with the computer systems”.
One tweeter in San Francisco scanned a letter from BA staff blaming “computer system” problems and saying staff were falling back on manual check in.
“Once again, please accept our honest apologies for the longer than normal waiting times at check-in today”.
The spokesman told ATW that, while the problems had initially been limited to the United States, the delays to flights arriving in London had led to knock-on delays on other services. They advised passengers to check in online as it may take longer than usual.
In a consumer-led industry, it is vital to stamp out these system crashes, by identifying the problem and ensuring it doesn’t happen again. “Will be glad when I get to Heathrow”.
Chicago O’Hare International Airport, San Francisco International Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were among those that appeared to be affected.
He tweeted: “Never a good sign when they deliver water to the gate!”
British Airways apologised to its passengers for the delays. A statement by the Metro Washington Airport Authority also described the problem as a worldwide system outage.
The airline’s problems come barely a month after US carrier Delta Air Lines Inc. suffered a global outage that caused it to cancel 2,300 flights, costing it $100 million in lost revenue.
Matthew Walker, a nother passenger hoping to fly from the U.S. to London, said he had been waiting for more than two hours to board his flight at Seattle Airport.
“We apologize to our customers for the delay and we appreciate their patience”, it added. “The check-in system is now working and customers are being checked in as normal in London and overseas”.
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Passengers took to Twitter around midnight to complain of overly long check-in queues at Heathrow and Gatwick.
