British Airways warns of MORE disruption for thousands of passengers after IT glitch cancelled hundreds of flights

THOUSANDS of British Airways passengers face more disruption today following an IT glitch which cancelled hundreds of flights.

The systems failure, which has now been fixed, has left up to 25,000 holidaymakers without flights - amid warnings they could face up to week for replacement flights.

British Airways said it was giving passengers due to leave Heathrow, Gatwick and London City yesterday the opportunity to re-book to travel between August 8-13.

That means they could be waiting up to a week for another flight and will have missed most - if not all - of their holiday by then.

British Airways said in a statement today: "We resolved the temporary systems issue yesterday and apologised to customers who were affected.

"Any customers whose flights were cancelled have either been rebooked or offered a refund.

"We plan to operate our normal schedule today, however there may be some knock-on disruption.

"We continue to ask customers to check ba.com before heading to the airport to get the latest status of their flight."

BA could face a compensation bill in excess of £8 million if all those affected claim what they are entitled to under European Union rules.

A sign appeared at Heathrow Terminal 5 yesterday telling passengers to "make their way home" and contact the airline with short haul check ins closed.

Sky News editor Carl McQueen posted an image of the sign, saying: "I’m at Heathrow Terminal 5, where dozens of @British_Airways flights have been cancelled.

"A warning sign has now been displayed advising passengers that short haul check-in is closed and 'all passengers should make their make their way home.' (Yes, they didn’t proof read it)".

As well as the 117 flights cancelled, more than 200 other flights were delayed, with some more than five hours behind schedule - reportedly affecting up to 25,000 passengers.

It is understood there was a problem with two separate systems - one that deals with online check in, the other that deals with flight departures.

The possibility of a cyber attack or hack has been ruled out.

It's just another problem to hit the UK airline, which faced a multi-million pound fine over a hack of their customer's data, the threat of pilot strikes and baggage mayhem this year.

It's the third major IT outage for BA in two years after 672 flights were cancelled with 75,000 people affected over a May Bank holiday in 2017 and another glitch in July last year.

And problems struck again - in the middle of the British school holidays.

Queues at Gatwick Airport yesterday nearly stretched outdoors on to the concourse at the South Terminal.

BA passengers, still hauling their luggage, were guided into separate queues as staff desperately tried to organise the masses.

Among them was mum Melanie Dixon, who was ready to fly to Las Vegas for a four-day holiday with her three children.

The hairdresser from Kent said: "This is our first holiday abroad as a family and it’s not got off to a good start. Once we’ve been waiting a bit longer the kids will start getting restless.

"We were so excited, but this has put a bit of a downer on our holiday.

"We just want to get through to departures so we can get some breakfast and drop our cases off, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen any time soon.

"BA have hundreds of flights everyday. They should be coping with this much better."

Retired retail worker Denise Hiller, 59, was travelling to Tampa in Florida with husband John, 63, who used to work in oil refinery.

The couple, from Salisbury, Wilts, paid £1,300 for their flights and a hire car on the other side.

Mum-of-three Mrs Hiller said: “We’ve been here since about 8.50am, and we’re due to fly at 12pm but that doesn’t look likely.

"This isn’t good for BA - it’s not the staff’s fault, but the problem shouldn’t be happening.

"We’ve not been given any information on how long our flight is going to be delayed.

"We’ve spent £1,300 on this, and now there’s not much we can do other than wait and hope we take off at some point."

Other passengers took to social media to complain, with one desperate dad writing: "Flight cancelled when checking in, IT problems apparently. Very busy to rebook. Not ideal with a 1 year old..."

Another said: "While I originally thought this was an early #NoDealBrexit ...Another major @British_Airways IT crash and it seems all #BAFlights are affected. Problems loading flight plans. @FT @BBCNews Stuck on ground in #GVA. No news."

A passenger in Italy shared a photograph of the view from her delayed plane, saying: "British Airways what’s occurring with your system software? No information and no time for departure??"

It comes after British Airways slashed 700 jobs in the UK in 2016, outsourcing their IT consultancy.

However, CEO Alex Cruz previously denied outages had been caused by the outsourcing, saying: "“I can confirm that all the parties involved around this particular event have not been involved in any type of outsourcing in any foreign country.

"They have all been local issues around a local data centre who has been managed and fixed by local resources."

One passenger claimed they had been stuck on their plane for two hours, writing: "Apparently mass disruption at @British_Airways , computer outage and all flights grounded or so were told on the BA1321, sat on this aircraft for 2 hours."