British Airways Cancels Heathrow, Gatwick Flights After IT Failure

May 27, 2017

British Airways has cancelled all flights from London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports for the rest of Saturday because of a computer systems outage.

BA said a “major IT system failure” had forced it to cancel flights until 18:00 (6pm) local time, but later in the afternoon announced that all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick would be cancelled for the rest of the day.

“We are working hard to get our customers who were due to fly today onto the next available flights over the course of the rest of the weekend. Those unable to fly will be offered a full refund,” the airline said in a statement.

BA said passengers should not travel to Heathrow or Gatwick for the remainder of Saturday, and should contact the airline for rebooking or refund. Travellers were urged to be patient as the airline’s call centres and some areas of its website have also been affected by the computer crash.

Heathrow said it is “working closely with the airline to assist passengers who have been affected by the British Airways' issue and have extra customer service colleagues in terminals assisting those passengers already at Heathrow.”

The airport said passengers travelling with British Airways tomorrow morning should check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport.

Long haul flights due to arrive in London on Sunday are expected to arrive as normal, but delays and cancellations may continue throughout the day.

Other airlines’ flights at Heathrow and Gatwick are not affected by the IT failure.

(Airwise)