BA takes to Twitter to apologise for mass disruption but sorry doesn't fly with customers
British Airwaves has released a statement on social media apologising for the IT failure which has grounded planes from Heathrow and Gatwick, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
The IT failure has caused travel chaos for thousands of customers
All BA flights from the two airports were cancelled this morning (28 May) after a power supply issue sparked a major IT failure.
The airline's chief executive Alex Cruz released a video statement on Twitter confirming the problem and apologising for the mass disruption.
In it he said: "I am really sorry we don't have better news as yet, but I can assure you our teams are working as hard as they can to resolve these issues."
— British Airways (@British_Airways) May 27, 2017
The video appears to have done little to appease disgruntled customers with many replying to the Twitter post with angry outbursts criticising the company for not disclosing more.
@Thegamingharry1 @natashaloder @British_Airways Speaking as someone who was at Heathrow all morning, people aren't annoyed at the IT failure. They're annoyed about being kept in the dark.
— Jamie McConnell (@jsm) May 27, 2017
@British_Airways I love that he's got a Hi Viz vest on to pretend he's been working hard to fix everything — . (@_laticfanatic) May 27, 2017
@British_Airways The system was down but they kept checking people in!!!! What happened today was a total disgrace #britishairways
— Basma Almutlaq (@_Basma_2010_) May 27, 2017
The airline has said it will refund reasonable costs to passengers, and assist them with rebooking flights.
As well as the flight cancelations, many passengers have not been given their luggage. Thousands of bags remain at Heathrow Airport, yet BA has advised passengers not to return to collect them as they will instead be couriered to customers.