British Airways: Chaos continues at Heathrow following computer system power failure
More than a third of British Airways flights from Heathrow have been cancelled as disruption to passengers enters a second day.
Advertisement
The airline was hit by a worldwide computer system power failure on Saturday, causing cancellations and delays for thousands of passengers.
Sunday departures from Gatwick are delayed, but none have been cancelled.
The airline urged people to check the status of flights before before travelling to the airport.
Heathrow Airport is providing an updated schedule on its website, as is Gatwick.
BA apologised to customers for the issue, which is thought to have been caused by a problem with the IT system's power supply.
Between 06:00 and 11:00 BST on Sunday, 143 British Airways flights were scheduled to depart from London Heathrow and Gatwick Airport.
So far 90 flights have left Heathrow and 36 have been cancelled.
At Gatwick, 17 planes have departed and no flights have been cancelled.
line break
The airline is liable to reimburse thousands of passengers for refreshments and hotel costs.
Customers displaced by flight cancellations can claim up to £200 a day for a room (based on two people sharing), £50 for transport between the hotel and airport, and £25 a day per adult for meals and refreshments.
One traveller said she spent the evening on the floor of a hotel conference room.
Ashley Tracey is trying to get to Mumbai from Seattle, USA, for her friend's wedding.
She returned to Heathrow on Saturday after her connecting flight was cancelled, where she was redirected to a hotel where she slept in a sleeping bag provided.
She has been in line for six hours in an attempt to rebook her flight.
She said: "There's no information I can't seem to get through online, I don't live here so I don't have a phone that works here."
There have been reports that some passengers who departed from Heathrow on Saturday found their luggage was not at their destination when they landed.
Terry Page, 28, arrived in Fort Worth, Texas after delays and claimed that "about 50" passengers did not have their check-in luggage.
Thousands of bags remain at Heathrow Airport, but BA has advised passengers not to return to collect them, saying they will be couriered to customers.
The airport also said passengers whose flights were cancelled should not travel to Heathrow unless they have already rebooked their flight.
A spokesman said staff were "continuing to give passengers free water and snacks".
On Saturday passengers described "chaotic" scenes at the airports, with some criticising BA for a lack of information.
The airline apologised and said it was refunding and rebooking customers.
The company's chief executive Alex Cruz had said it was believed "the root cause [of the computer problems] was a power supply issue". The company said there was no evidence the failure was the result of a cyber attack.
