British Airways faced an IT issue on Monday evening, resulting in a loss of communication with its pilots and significant operational disruption. As flights began to get delayed both in and out of the UK, passengers started to post on social media about the uncertainties of their travel plans.
Communication with pilots lost
On November 18, British Airways’ operations were impacted after around 17:00 following an IT outage. The airline’s pilots across multiple locations within and outside the United Kingdom reported having trouble establishing communications with the BA operations center.
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British Airways maintained that its flights were continuing but that there were delays for some services as it looked to get the issue resolved. There were reports of BA planes abroad scheduled to fly into the UK waiting for hours on the ground before finally taking off.
Similar scenes played out at the airline’s primary hub – London Heathrow Airport (LHR) – where several outbound flights, including long-haul services to the US and Asia, were delayed. The airline apologized to the customers for the disruptions.
The issue was eventually resolved, with The Guardian quoting a Heathrow spokesperson as saying,
“The technical issue impacting British Airways has now been resolved. Our teams remain on hand to support British Airways to help passengers on their way as quickly as possible.”
Passengers posted online about delays
A situation like this is chaotic for both the airline and the passengers booked to fly that day. As British Airways looked to resolve the issue—which it did eventually—many passengers posted comments on social media about the delays they faced.
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One of the passengers stuck in Vienna requested the airline to give some updates on the “pc outage,” while others pointed out how the airline’s website and apps were also not working (due to high traffic). One passenger said,
“Pilot said system is now fixed, but there is a going to be big delay. He has suggested we will be sat on the plane for 1 hour before departure.”
Not the first time
Technical issues often disrupt airline and airport operations. This is not the first time this has happened with British Airways. In May 2023, the airline canceled dozens of flights, and several other flights were delayed.
The airline said it was a “technical issue,” and reports suggested it was possibly the failure of an internal IT system. Thousands of passengers were affected, and some also missed their flight connections.
Of course, BA isn’t the only airline vulnerable to IT outages. In July this year, several airlines around the world had to ground their planes after a glitch with their systems affected operations. More than 6,000 flights were canceled on a single day, with airlines incurring losses.
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Airlines and airports across various regions, including the US, India, Japan, Australia, the UK, and New Zealand, among others, faced problems with their systems, and carriers faced long queues at check-in counters as they had trouble checking in passengers.