Air passengers were facing lengthy delays in Britain on Tuesday after a computer glitch hit British Airways check-ins and protesters from “Black Lives Matter” forced their way on to the runway of London City Airport.
British Airways said it was taking longer than normal to process customers at Heathrow and Gatwick near London but did not comment on social media reports that there were also major delays in San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Atlanta.
The airlines then prompted its staff to issue passengers with handwritten boarding passes in order to keep flights operating.
BA, owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group, apologized to customers for the delays and urged passengers to check in online before they reached the airport.
@razankhabour We apologize to our customers for the delay and we appreciate their patience as our IT teams work to resolve this issue.
— British Airways (@British_Airways) September 6, 2016
@aliyumei310 @NBCNews @British_Airways @jeehwan34 thank you? #TechTakesAHoliday #ManualCheckIn pic.twitter.com/qs8W14SurL
— Alex Kintzer (@akintsy) September 6, 2016
Meanwhile, irriated passengers turned to social media to complain of delays:
@British_Airways @flySFO almost 2 hours waiting to check in due to apparent global system failure. pic.twitter.com/YPB0v2WpMT
— Mark Theunissen (@marktheunissen) September 6, 2016
.@British_Airways still no movement in the check-in queue… Is there any update on what’s happening in Seattle? pic.twitter.com/L6FD0wexM2
— Matthew Walker (@walkerswalking) September 6, 2016
@British_Airways systems down @flySFO. Apparently computers are taking the #LaborDay2016… pic.twitter.com/dbHEc5I9S1
— Alex Kintzer (@akintsy) September 6, 2016
British Airways check-in be like… pic.twitter.com/E1ozrM6OTD
— Neal Spinks (@nealspinks) September 6, 2016
British Airways right now pic.twitter.com/dQJrLQdpeR
— Adrian Greetham (@adriangreetham) September 6, 2016
(With Inputs from Reuters)