British Airways' Problems

[drumbrake]

Now mainly in UK and Europe, but expect knock on effects.

British Airways: Computer problems cause flight delays - BBC News

[jmbf]

That's a pretty serious IT problem to cause worldwide disruptions. Wonder if they will ever reveal what was the cause.

PS - Anyone still flying BA from HK? I haven't flown them for years. Their fares are nothing special, their economy class sucks and their business class is not much better!

[shri]

The official word is "Power Issues". Cleaning lady unplugged something by mistake.

From the comments:

One does not simply flip the switch to bring a datacentre back online.

True - you have to book a flight on BA, from India, to visit the datacenter and flip the switch.

BA's 'global IT system failure' is due to 'power supply issue' • The Register

[hullexile]

My niece is a BA stewardess, boy is she having a hard time on facebook as though she can control anything.

[jmbf]

Very possibly unrelated but quite ironic nevertheless. I particularly like the title "As you stare at the dead British Airways website, remember the hundreds of tech staff it laid off"

As you stare at the dead British Airways website, remember the hundreds of tech staff it laid off • The Register

[Zero Gravitas]

PS - Anyone still flying BA from HK? I haven't flown them for years. Their fares are nothing special, their economy class sucks and their business class is not much better!

Flew with them the past 2 times and again later this year. Always had them come up with the lowest direct flight for me and quite a bit cheaper for the up coming flight.

[shri]

Hotels surrounding the airports were charging as much as 1,000 pounds to 2,500 pounds for rooms for a night, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-computer-snag

[Scousebanana]

I've flown with BA 3 times in the last year and each time they have had system issues, so I think this is an ongoing thing.

The first time we were checking in at HKG when the entire system crashed. Fortunately it came back up within 20 minutes. By the time we landed in London, I was getting emails telling me to print my own boarding card for the connecting flight as the system wasn't able to do so.

The second time, we all boarded the flight in the normal way, but the system was still showing as missing 180 passengers, which was physically impossible. Eventually after an hour stuck on the plane, the 180 passengers were shown as boarded, so we were able to go.

The third (and the worst time), we were already delayed for 3 hours due to fog at Heathrow. We boarded our flight at Edinburgh, pushed back, taxiied to the runway, then ground to a halt as they weren't able to reconcile passenger numbers. We were left on the plane for over 5 hours and only allowed to disembark if we were abandoning our journeys. We were promised food and drink, but they only managed to find water and 7 packets of sandwiches, which they had to cut up into pieces to give to the children on board. BA has refused our claim for compensation as they claim that the delay was due to the fog.

I normally book CX to London, but BA does tend to be cheaper ex HKG (as opposed to ex LON when CX is cheaper). However, I am a BA Frequent Flyer member and as I travel a lot, I get upgrade vouchers, which have to be used with BA, which does of course lower the cost.

[Natfixit]

Original Post Deleted

The first time I ever flew with BA was when I became an expat in the 1990s. Flew from Brisbane to London. Horrible long flight, and while the staff were generally nice, the head purser was not. He was rude to customers and staff. I remember seeing one female stewardess in tears because he as just sooo rude. Now, BA have been ok on board, except check in staffs' attitude to bags et al. .5 kg over weight and you are charged. We are flying again with them in August back to Sweden from SG, but in business class. As it is an overnight flight, I won't be too concerned about the food, but booze would be a help if the seats are anything like Lufthansa business class....

[Scousebanana]

BA really need to overhaul their cabins in longhaul Biz. The lie-flat seats were cutting edge when they launched in the late 1990s, but many airlines have now overtaken them. So many other carriers have direct aisle access from all seats these days and to have 50% pax flying backwards is just weird (though arguably safer than going forwards). The food and drink generally ok in BA Club World. Service is variable and very much dependent on how good the Cabin Services Manager is.