Passengers stand at the British Airways desk at the
'Leonardo da Vinci' airport in Fiumicino, near Rome, Italy. EPA/Telenews
BA aims to run majority of services today
LONDON, May 28, 2017
British Airways has said that it is aiming to run a "near normal schedule" at Gatwick and the "majority of services" from Heathrow today (Sunday) after a "major" IT failure saw all flights cancelled on Saturday.
"Although some of the IT systems have returned, there will be some knock-on disruption to our schedules as aircraft and crews are out of position around the world. We are repositioning some aircraft during the night to enable us to operate as much of our schedule as possible throughout Sunday," the airline said on its website.
"At this stage we are aiming to operate a near normal schedule of flights from Gatwick and the majority of our Heathrow services," it said.
"If you are due to fly to/from Heathrow or Gatwick on Sunday May 28 or Monday May 29 and no longer wish to travel, even if your flight is still operating, you can rebook to travel up to and including June 10," it said.
Thousands of passengers are stranded with their plans disrupted due to the cancellation of flights. The airline said there was no evidence the computer problems were the result of a cyber attack, a BBC report said.
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.
BA advised customers to continue checking the status of their flight on its website www.ba.com before travelling to the airport.
"We are extremely sorry for the significant levels of disruption caused to customers and understand how frustrating their experiences have been," the airline said on its website.
Affected customers can claim a full refund or rebook to a future date for travel up until the end of November 2017, it said.
It urged customers to keep any food, transport or accommodation receipts and said they can make a claim in due course through its Customer Relations teams. "There are a significant number of bags at Heathrow which we will be reuniting with customers via couriers as soon as we can. This will be done free of charge," it said.
