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Thousands of British Airways passengers across the globe have been left stranded today after dozens of long-haul flights were delayed and cancelled just days before Christmas because of a technical failure.
Desperate customers trying to get home for Christmas – including actress Elizabeth Hurley – were left stuck after multiple planes across the United States and Caribbean, bound for London Heathrow and Gatwick, were grounded before take off on Monday night.
The beleaguered airline was forced to apologise after axing 15 flights out of Heathrow today and leaving families waiting inside airports and on the tarmac across Europe, the US and Asia.
Liz Hurley was among those to share their frustration on Twitter, telling fans she was stranded in Antigua and would have to wait 20 hours for a flight, and had been left ‘with no food, water or hotel’. She eventually took a taxi ‘to escape the airport after more than 12 hours with no food or water’, as she warned others to ‘avoid flying’.
HAS YOUR FLIGHT BEEN AFFECTED BY THE ‘TECHNICAL’ GLITCH? Email matthew.lodge@mailonline.co.uk
Actress Liz Hurley was caught in the chaos, tweeting she would be waiting 20 hours for a flight. She eventually took taxi ‘to escape airport after more than 12 hours with no food or water’
Actor Adam Woodyatt voiced his frustration as a friend was left waiting nearly a week for their bags
It came as one traveller said on Twitter that her holiday was ‘ruined’ after finding out her flight to New York had been delayed by a whole day, while another reported being held back by six hours and counting ‘with no access to food and very little access to water’.
There have also been reports of hours-long waits for luggage at Heathrow, while one man said he is ‘stuck in Boston’ after his flight was cancelled and has been unable to arrange alternative travel because BA’s telephone lines were busy.
Almost all overnight transatlantic flights to Heathrow and Gatwick were disrupted by the glitch, with severe knock-on effects expected today with further flights potentially cancelled.
Some passengers reported being held on the tarmac for hours while cabin crew and pilots were left waiting on flight plans to get them to their destinations, with photos showing people sleeping in the aisle of some planes.
Passengers landing at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 also faced long delays for their luggage, with EastEnders actor Adam Woodyatt complaining a friend had been left waiting days for their bags to arrive.
The technical issue caused massive delays to flights from the UK’s flagship airline, stranding passengers as at least nine long-haul flights to Heathrow were cancelled last night and this morning.
Departures to Denver, Boston, Tokyo, Washington DC, Nashville, Chicago, Toronto and three to New York JFK have been cancelled.
The flights were set to carry at least 5,000 people, all of whom now face having to find alternate ways of getting to their destination just days before Christmas, the Independent reports.
Several other flights suffered long delays, including one from the US city of Philadelphia which is expected to land more than five-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
Others trying to catch flights reported being left waiting on the tarmac at New York’s JFK airport for more than four hours, with many disgruntled travellers taking to Twitter to vent their frustration.
Photos taken on one flight show people sleeping in the aisle during the long delay for take off
Passengers took to social media to complain about the delays and cancellations to their flights
In video footage from New York’s JFK airport, holidaymakers could be seen lying on the floor as they waited for updates, while others appeared tired
British Airways passengers waiting for flights last night were left frustrated as a ‘technical’ glitch grounded planes
Liz Hurley says she has been left stuck in Antigua after her flight was cancelled. Pictured: The actress during filming for a movie in the Caribbean earlier this year
Author Colin Dickey said on Twitter: ‘Captain of our British Airways flight just said that their flight computers have been down for two hours worldwide and no BA plane can file a flight plan? Seems not ideal. Anyway just chillin’ on the tarmac here at JFK, being cool.’
He added: ‘British Airways’ system has been down worldwide for 3 hours now; Captain said the last time this happened (earlier this year, wtf), it took 2-3 hours once the system came back online. (Putting this all here so other people stranded can find it, in case it’s helpful for them).’
He later tweeted that the airline had ‘borrowed’ a flight computer from Lufthansa, with his flight taking off more than four hours after it was scheduled to.
Other passengers reported delays across North America in flights that were meant to be departing from the likes of Toronto, Miami and Denver. Some were left forlornly looking at their planes as they were stuck on the tarmac.
A person with the username @NormaJeanRobin7 wrote: ‘BA flight cancelled. Awake for 24 hours! We have not been offered food or fluids. There are children in the queue.
Customers fume after being delayed for hours on end, with some reporting ‘no access to food’ and ‘very little access to water’
‘@British_Airways are telling everyone to book their own accommodation and flight back home to the UK. What a disgrace!!! Stranded at the airport. Help.’
A passenger with the Twitter account @kalim00 posted: ‘Our flight BA212 Boston to London Heathrow was cancelled after four hours sitting on the tarmac.
‘We were told we’d be rebooked on tomorrow’s flight automatically, but when I check my BA app this doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ve tried calling eight times but nobody picks up! Help!’
A Twitter user with an account named @R-S-Thomas added: ‘My 13-year-old daughter was due to fly home on cancelled flight BA114 from New York.
‘Now possibly stuck for days with the shambles of an airline. Sort your company out and get my daughter home.’
Author Colin Dickey tweeted about his hours-long ordeal while waiting for his flight from JFK to take off
There were also delays for passengers arriving into Terminal 5 at Heathrow last night, with photos showing hundreds of suitcases piled up high in the baggage reclaim hall.
Lorna Bryant, who arrived into the airport last night, told MailOnline the situation was a ‘nightmare’.
She said there were ‘hundreds, if not thousands, of suitcases dumped in a pile, unattended, awaiting staff to load them onto the conveyor belts’.
‘We have just been informed that baggage delays are expected to more than 90 minutes,’ she said.
‘We also had delays when we landed. The pilot explained that there were no staff ready to assist them in parking the plane. No shuttle buses ready to take us to the terminal, either.’
She added there seemed to be ‘absolutely no staff’, and that ‘the pilot even suggested we leave a bad review because they’re sick of the delays every time they land at Heathrow’.
Video showed hundreds of bags piled up waiting to be returned to their owners at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 last night
Video taken inside Terminal 5 last night shows hundreds of bags piled up at the luggage reclaim
Passengers were seen forlornly waiting as they were stuck for more than hour for their luggage
Actress Charlotte Kennedy said her bags had not arrived nearly a week after landing at Heathrow
Actress Charlotte Kennedy said she had been left waiting nearly a week for her luggage to arrive after her bag was lost at Heathrow.
She tweeted: ‘Hiya British Airways me again, I understand Heathrow is a shambles right now but my bag is still there. It’s been almost a week and there is no indication of when it will arrive in Edinburgh. Patience running thin and my clothes running out lol if you don’t laugh, you will cry.’
EastEnder’s actor Adam Woodyatt also hit out at the airline in support of his friends, writing: ‘C’mon British Airways a day or two is bad enough but a week is beyond a joke.’
In a statement, BA said: ‘Our flights due to depart the USA tonight are currently delayed due to a technical issue with our third-party flight planning supplier, which we are urgently investigating.
‘We’re sorry for any disruption this will cause to our customers’ plans, our aim is for these flights to depart as quickly as possible.’
‘This is not a safety issue. We are keeping our customers up to date and providing them with refreshments,’ the airline added.
In a statement issued later in the night, it said: ‘Our teams have now resolved a temporary issue that affected some of our long-haul flight planning systems overnight, which resulted in delays to our schedule.
‘We’re sorry for the disruption caused to our customers’ travel plans.’
BA has been contacted for comment about the delays at Terminal 5.
It comes days before potentially more Christmas chaos, as Border Force staff go on walk out for eight days between December 23 and New Year’s Eve in a dispute over pay.
Border Force staff will join rail workers, nurse and ambulance crews and postal workers on strike in the weeks around Christmas
BA and Virgin Atlantic both announced that would be cutting the number of bookings into Heathrow as a result of the action, which will also see staff go on strike at Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff.
It’s understood that all airline operators at Heathrow were urged to limit the number of new tickets being sold.
British Airways said that people already booked to travel to the airport during the strike days will still be able to do so.
A BA spokesperson said the carrier was working with the government and airport ‘to ensure that we play our part in ensuring our customers are able to travel as planned at this important time of year’.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson also said it was working closely with government to ‘minimise the impact of Border Force strikes on our customers’ journeys’.
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