UPDATE 1530: To see the updated situation, scroll to the bottom of the article….
All British Airways short-haul flights from Heathrow have been cancelled this morning.
The decision is as a result of a massive IT failure yesterday which caused huge delays across the airline’s network.
All short haul flights from London Heathrow have been cancelled until at least midday with long haul flights being prioritised.
The decision will cause issues not only for those flying short haul, but also those hoping to connect from short haul onto those long haul flights.
Heathrow Airport has also confirmed the problems.
There is ongoing disruption this morning due to @British_Airways technical issues which we are supporting them to resolve.
We request that passengers check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) February 26, 2022
The IT problems involve not only the airline’s website but also internal systems for check-in, crew allocation and stand planning (which looks at where the aircraft are parked at the airport).
In addition, there were problems with the airline’s website yesterday, preventing people from accessing information.
British Airways has categorically denied that the problems are as a result of a cyberattack and it is understood it is a hardware IT issue.
In a statement British Airways said the following:
“We are extremely sorry that due to the continuing technical issues we are facing we have regrettably had to cancel all short-haul flights from Heathrow today until midday. Customers due to travel later today should check their flight status on ba.com before coming to the airport as we anticipate further disruption during the day.”
“Our long-haul services at Heathrow and all flights at Gatwick and London City Airport are due to operate as planned, but customers may experience some delays. Our website ba.com is working and customers can check-in online and at the airport.”
“We are offering customers on cancelled services options including a full refund and all customers booked to travel on short-haul services from Heathrow today can opt to rebook to a later date for free if they choose. We will be contacting customers proactively.”
It is understood that London Gatwick flights and London City Airport flights are unaffected.
We will keep this page updated today as things change (hopefully) for the better.
As can be seen from the below screen grab from BA’s website, it does look like some short haul flights will be operating early this afternoon, although you should keep checking the website, since this might change.
In any case, it is likely that even as short haul flights are reintroduced this afternoon and evening, that there will be considerable delays and cancellations for the rest of the weekend, and so the airline advises checking the status of your flight.
BA says “Our teams have been working hard through the night and will continue to do so to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We advise our customers due to travel today to check ba.com for the latest flight information before coming to the airport.”
“We know we have let our customers down and we will do everything we can to make this up to them – but for now our focus is on getting as many customers and flights away as we can.”
All passengers whose flights have been cancelled are being offered refunds or rebooking options, and those who no longer want to travel, or whose reason for travel has now been removed, can alternatively claim a voucher for use up until September 2023 – the ‘Book with Confidence’ policy which was introduced to encourage travel as a result of the Covid pandemic.
The situation is gradually returning to normal, although there are tens of thousands of passengers who missed their flights and phone lines at BA are still difficult to access. There are also significant queues in some airports with those trying to rebook flights.
BA says:
“We are extremely sorry that due to the continuing technical issues we are facing we have regrettably had to cancel a significant number of short-haul flights from Heathrow today. If we’ve contacted you to say your flight has been cancelled, please don’t go to the airport. Log in to Manage my booking and review your options.”
“If you are still awaiting missing baggage, please do not go to the airport. Please make sure you’ve submitted a missing baggage report so you can track the status of your bag here.”
“Our long-haul services at Heathrow and all flights at Gatwick and London City Airport are due to operate as planned, but customers may experience some delays.”
“We are offering customers on cancelled services the option of a refund or to rebook onto another service. We will be contacting customers proactively.”
