Passengers describe BA travel chaos as some bed down on yoga mats
Passengers described their nightmare delays after hundreds of BA flights were grounded, with one woman saying she had the ‘worst honeymoon ever’.
Hundreds of flights were grounded after an IT failure during the bank holiday weekend, with Heathrow and Gatwick only getting things moving for British Airways passengers again on Sunday afternoon.
It left long delays even when flights could take off, with many passengers still waiting this afternoon, some slumped on baggage trolleys or on yoga mats.
BA Chief Executive Alex Cruz apologised in a video statement, saying ‘I know this has been a horrible time for customers.’
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Passengers faced hours-long lines to check in, reclaim lost luggage or rebook flights at Terminal 5, BA’s hub at Heathrow. Cruz said that to reduce overcrowding travelers will only be let into the terminal 90 minutes before their flights.
Passengers – some of whom had spent the night at the airport – faced frustrating waits to learn if and when they could fly out.
‘Everyone is upset. There’s people in tears,’ said Melanie Ware, who flew in from Los Angeles and was trying to get to Venice on her honeymoon.
‘We rebooked for Venice for tonight, which they also have canceled now,’ she told Sky News. ‘So we have no way of getting out of Heathrow and they haven’t compensated us for anything, and we’re stuck and this is the worst honeymoon ever.
‘British Airways has ruined our honeymoon.’
Tonda Sallee, who was trying to fly to Frankfurt, said she been in line for five hours, ‘and we have no idea how long we’ll be in line. The rest of the day I’m sure, and we probably won’t fly out today either.’
Many passengers complained about a lack of information from the airline.
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‘Some 80-year-old lady was standing around waiting for announcements, et cetera, and she fell over,’ said Londoner Terry Page, who managed to get on one of the last flights from Heathrow to Dallas-Fort Worth on Saturday. He and other passengers arrived, but their luggage did not.
‘We helped her up and she said `I’m just so tired,”‘ Page said. ‘It’s been a terrible, terrible day.’
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