British Airways was today branded an ‘utter shambles’ after another IT meltdown left 15,000 people stranded and forced them to cancel 100 flights and delay at least 200 more in Britain and abroad.
The airline’s systems failure – the third in recent weeks – left customers unable to check-in or trapped inside grounded planes with some so furious they gave up and walked off.
BA could face a compensation bill in excess of £5million if all those affected claim what they are entitled to under European Union rules.
Lines of people stuck at Gatwick and Heathrow check-in snaked around terminal buildings with James North, who is due to fly to Heraklion, Crete, today telling MailOnline: ‘It’s not the world favourite airline – it’s now the world biggest airline queue’.
Customers were also stuck at London City, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh and other BA hubs in Britain – but passengers across Europe as well as in Japan, India and the US were also hit by delays or cancellations.
Irate passengers took to social media to vent their fury and revealed their dream family summer holidays and even their weddings could now be in ruins with many vowing ‘never to fly BA again’.
Parents with children also claimed they were treated ‘like cattle’ after being left stuck inside airport gates without access to food or water with no clue about if and when they could leave.
Today the airline apologised for the chaos and revealed it has already been forced to cancel 81 flights to or from Heathrow while 10 Gatwick flights were also shelved.
More than 200 other flights were delayed, with some more than five hours behind schedule and problems expected until at least 3pm.
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