British Airways: which flights are cancelled, why passengers were stuck at Heathrow and claiming compensation

British Airways has cancelled all short-haul flights from Heathrow until midday on Saturday (26 February) due to ongoing technical issues.

BA said it was experiencing “significant technical issues” which has led to flight cancellations, delays and passengers being stuck on planes for hours after landing.

Here is everything you need to know about the British Airways outage.

What have British Airways said?

British Airways issued a statement that reads: “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.

“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.”

Was British Airways hacked?

No. BA has maintained that, despite speculation, these technical issues are just that and cannot be attributed to a cyber-attack.

Which British Airways flights have been cancelled?

All short-haul flights from Heathrow have been cancelled until midday on Saturday 26 February. Anyone who is travelling after this point is still advised to check their flight status before travelling to the airport, however.

Long-haul flights from Heathrow, and all flights from Gatwick and London City Airport, are due to operate as planned, though BA have warned there is still potential for delays.

A short-haul flight is typically defined (in Europe – there’s no international standard) as less than 1500 km, or 930 miles.

Why were passengers stuck at Heathrow?

A number of passengers were stuck on planes at Heathrow, unable to disembark because of the technical issues.

Ed Hall, a television executive from Oxfordshire, was stranded on a plane for over an hour after touching down at Heathrow Terminal 5.

He explained to PA that this was because the disruption to BA’s IT systems prevented pilots from accessing a stand to disembark.

Mr Hall told PA: “We couldn’t take off as the pilot’s system that calculates weight, loads and distribution went offline and we had to go back to the gate from the runway to get a (manual) copy sent from London.

“BA is running on paper tonight”.

How can I claim compensation on a cancelled flight?

British Airways have said that customers will be offered a refund on any cancelled flights, as well as an opportunity to rebook their flights.

According to their website, customers are typically entitled to compensation if their delay is more than 3 hours in duration, or if they are informed of the delay with less than two weeks’ notice and no proposed alternative flight.

The BA website goes on to explain that compensation is limited by EU regulations. They are able to offer €250 – around £210 – for short-haul flights of up to 1500km.

This article will continue to be updated with more information

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