British Airways passengers at Aberdeen and Inverness have been caught up in a major Heathrow IT issue causing delays and cancellations to flights across the world.
Technical problems in London on Wednesday have caused endless disruption – resulting in countless aircraft being left out of position.
And the headaches have continued today with passengers at Aberdeen facing lengthy delays of more than three hours, while some are not even able to get on board amid reports of the replacement plane being too small.
Meanwhile, flights from both Aberdeen and Inverness to Heathrow have also been cancelled amidst the chaos.
What is happening with British Airways?
The IT failure caused huge queues at Terminal 5 at Heathrow on Wednesday as passengers were unable to board British Airways flights.
The Daily Mail reported at least two flights were diverted mid-air from Heathrow to Gatwick when the issues emerged.
However, the disruption has continued to Thursday with passengers in Aberdeen left with holiday and business plans in tatters.
My fourth flight in two years and @British_airways have cancelled the flight. Because of IT issues at T5. And which flights have they cancelled? Aberdeen. And as usual, their app is useless and their telephone number doesn’t answer. Why do I keep thinking they are competent?
— Marykirk com (@MarykirkCom) March 31, 2022
George Brown had been due to fly from Aberdeen at 9.25am to catch a connecting flight from Heathrow to Rome at 12.15pm.
However, he remained at Aberdeen at 12noon with little hope of making his second flight.
He said: “Everyone is just exasperated. We arrived for check-in at 8am and we didn’t even make the front of the queue until 10am.
I was due to fly to home to Aberdeen tonight. Scottish flights are always the first to be cancelled and they didn’t give 2 hoots about what people will do. Currently @ Euston waiting on @CalSleeper
— Kerry Buist (@kerrybuist) March 30, 2022
“Apparently they didn’t send a big enough plane this morning after they couldn’t send one up last night.
“Thankfully we have been able to get a stand-by seat with a couple going to India, but there’s a whole lot of people who haven’t been able to get on.
“There are people going to Florida who haven’t been able to board. A member of cabin crew told me they were supposed to fly home last night but still haven’t been able to board.”
Weather contributing to British Airways delays
The airline says it has reduced its schedule on Thursday due as it continues to recover from Wednesday’s IT problems, which it says have now been fixed.
However, British Airways say that forecast bad weather at Heathrow is also contributing to the delays.
A spokesman said: “We’re very sorry to say that as a result of the technical issue we experienced yesterday and predicted weather disruption, we have had to reduce our schedule at Heathrow today.
“We’re taking steps to ensure as many customers as possible are able to travel as planned today.
“We’ve apologised to our customers and are offering to refund or rebook them onto alternative flights, providing refreshment vouchers and hotel accommodation where needed.”