British Airways flights expected to resume after cancellations spark bedlam at Gatwick and Heathrow

BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) flights from London’s Gatwick and Heathrow airports are expected to resume today after a worldwide computer crash plunged travel plans into chaos.

All flights from the two hubs were eventually cancelled on Saturday in a move which sparked chaos for tens of thousands.

In Spain, a number of flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Alicante were affected, among others.

Some of those that did travel were forced to do so without their hold luggage in the wake of the systems failure, as the disruption is expected to continue for several days.

A power supply problem is thought to be responsible for the issue which caused the airline’s check-in and other customer services, including phone lines, to be shut down, with no suspicion of a cyber attack.

The carrier now faces enormous compensation costs after it pledged to help them rebook flights and refund “reasonable costs” to stranded travellers.

A BA spokesman said: “We are continuing to work hard to restore all of our IT systems.

“We are extremely sorry for the huge disruption caused to customers throughout Saturday and understand how frustrating their experiences will have been.

“We are refunding or rebooking customers who suffered cancellations on to new services as quickly as possible and have also introduced more flexible rebooking policies for anyone due to travel on Sunday and Monday who no longer wishes to fly to/from Heathrow or Gatwick.”

Customers are advised to check the status of flights on the website www.ba.com before travelling to either airport, both of which are also providing online updates.