British Airways (BA) was hit by a significant IT failure for several hours on November 18, 2024, leading to temporary delays and disruptions to its flights across Europe.
The issue began at around 17:00 local time.
Shortly after the incident occurred, a British Airways spokesperson told CNN that the airline faced a “technical issue affecting some of their systems.”
“We’ve apologized to customers for delays to their flights and ensured they were able to reach their destinations as planned,” the spokesperson added.
As a result, some flights were delayed or canceled, leaving passengers stranded at various airports across the United Kingdom. British Airways phone lines, and its website were also not accessible, according to local media reports.
British Airways pilots were unable to submit flight plans electronically due to the IT issue, according to a report by The Mirror, published on November 18, 2024. Instead, they had to manually call the operations center at Heathrow Airport (LHR), the airline’s main base in London.
The IT outage impacted travelers with the airline, leading many to complain about the delays on social media. A passenger in Hamburg, waiting for a BA flight on November 18, 2024, took to X to say, “pilots are grounded until they can get clearance to leave”.
We’re sitting on the tarmac in Hamburg… same thing, pilots are grounded until they can get clearance to leave, they need to know how heavy the plane is to calculate take off speed etc… so we’re waiting. @British_Airways
— dRisk (@d__risk) November 18, 2024
Another passenger, who posted on X the same day, said: “BA535 stuck on the ground at Naples. Captain – looking frustrated and embarrassed – came into the cabin to tell us that he cannot contact British Airways.”
BA535 stuck on the ground at Naples 🇮🇹. Captain – looking frustrated and embarrassed – came into the cabin to tell us that he cannot contact @British_Airways https://t.co/j1vQrOFXFP
— Dr Stephen Asbury MBA (@Stephen_Asbury) November 18, 2024
The issue continued until late into the evening.
On November 19, 2024, British Airways announced that the problem had been resolved.