Family stranded in London after BA flight chaos race to get back to the US for Christmas

A family has been left stranded in London with a race to get back home to the US for Christmas amid British Airways flight chaos – as the airline scrambles to fix a technical problem with fears it could happen again. 

The American family told how they will be stranded in London for at least two days after British Airways cancelled their connecting flight to Chicago. 

Eva Grayson had travelled to Belfast to collect her grandson Ethan who is studying at Ulster University and bring him home to Chicago for Christmas. But when they arrived at London’s Heathrow airport they discovered their connecting flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport had been cancelled.

It comes as the airline launched an urgent investigation into pilot planning software provided by Lufthansa after a technical glitch left thousands of passengers stranded, according to the Telegraph, with fears the glitch could reoccur. 

Holly Murphy, daughter Violet, three, Zander, five, in-laws Elizabeth Murphy and Edward Murphy – their plane was delayed by five hours 

Diane Simpson and Terri Crockwell at Heathrow Terminal 5 today as passengers face delays

British Airways is said to use Lufthansa’s LIDO system, flight planning software used to plan routes and navigate weather, and the airline is believed to have put in place a workaround amid the problem. 

BA passengers have told of their frustration after thousands across the globe were left stranded as dozens of long-haul flights were delayed and cancelled just days before Christmas because of the technical failure. 

MailOnline has contacted British Airways for comment.  

The problem affected long-haul flights on Monday night and yesterday morning and stopped dozens of flights taking off from the United States.

And since Monday night at least 32 long haul flights to or from Heathrow have been cancelled, affecting BA routes serving the US, Canada and Japan.

There are also long delays to a number of other flights serving Heathrow and Gatwick. They include an arrival from the US city of Chicago, which was expected to land at Heathrow 26 hours behind schedule.

Mrs Grayson, 61, told MailOnline: ‘British Airways cancelled our flight to Chicago. The next flight is in two-days time.

‘I’ve spoken to the British Airways staff but they say they can’t help. They say we have to go online or use the app. No one at the airport can help us.

‘We’ve never been to London before. We don’t know what we are going to do.’

She added: ‘We went to flight connections desk and they said there was nothing they could do. There were loads of other people there too. People from New York and other US cities.’

Passengers face delays and cancellations at Heathrow today, along with lots of bags missing upon arrival to Londons busiest terminal

People are facing delays at Heathrow Terminal 2 as they head off for the Christmas holidays 

Diane Simpson, 66, and Terri Crockwell, 61, arrived at London’s Heathrow airport exhausted after long delays arriving from Bermuda. Diane, from Bermuda, told MailOnline: ‘There was nothing to eat on the plane. Now I’m tired, hungry and exhausted.

‘The plane was meant to take off at 8.15pm but it didn’t leave until after midnight. We had something to eat in the terminal but British Airways did not give us any food on the plane. It was a five-hour flight.’

Terri Crockwell, also from Bermuda, added: ‘We’ve come to England to spend Christmas with family in Nottingham. It’s great to be here, but after the delay I’m exhausted.’

Expectant mother Holly Murphy travelled back to the UK with her two children and her in-laws to spend Christmas with her parents in Lincolnshire.

Holly, 38, who lives in Bermuda, told MailOnline: ‘The plane was delayed by five and a half hours. British Airways told us it was because the flight scanner had gone down at Heathrow. Now we’re happy to be home but really rather tired.’

Mrs Murphy was travelling with her son Zander, five, daughter Violet, three and her parents-in-law Elizabeth Murphy, 69, and Edward Murphy, 68.

An expat British couple told how they feared they would miss Christmas with their family when their British Airways flight from Baltimore was cancelled.

Rob Clews, 67, who is originally from Exmouth, Devon, told MailOnline: ‘We found out the flight was delayed and we feared it would be cancelled.

Rob Clews and Christine Clews from Baltimore found out their flight was delayed 

Ben Doyle from Southend and Neil Dodds from Plymouth – Mr Doyle has also spoken out about the delays 

‘The flight was meant to leave at about 9pm last night but it finally took off after 1am.’

His wife Christine added: ‘It was stressful. We thought we might miss Christmas in the UK.’

British Airways passengers told how they managed to leave the USA with only minutes to spare before the flight crew’s hours expired.

Ben Doyle, 47, a guitar technician from Southend, Essex, was returning home from Philadelphia with his colleagues.

He told MailOnline: ‘When we got to the airport we were told there was a delay. There was a man walking around with a microphone promising to give us an update every 40 minutes. But he didn’t know what was going on either.

‘The plane was meant to leave at 6.50pm. We finally took off just before 1am with four minutes to spare before the crews hours ran out. Otherwise we would have been stranded.’

Passengers left stranded at JFK International Airport at New York City after a delay of flights

Busy departures area at Terminal 2 Heathrow as people face delays ahead of Christmas 

Desperate customers trying to get home for Christmas – including actress Elizabeth Hurley – were left stuck after multiple planes across the United States and Caribbean, bound for London Heathrow and Gatwick, were grounded before take off on Monday night.

The beleaguered airline was forced to apologise after axing 15 flights out of Heathrow today and leaving families waiting inside airports and on the tarmac across Europe, the US and Asia.

Liz Hurley was among those to share their frustration on Twitter, telling fans she was stranded in Antigua and would have to wait 20 hours for a flight, and had been left ‘with no food, water or hotel’. She eventually took a taxi ‘to escape the airport after more than 12 hours with no food or water’, as she warned others to ‘avoid flying’.

HAS YOUR FLIGHT BEEN AFFECTED BY THE ‘TECHNICAL’ GLITCH? Email matthew.lodge@mailonline.co.uk 

 

Actress Liz Hurley was caught in the chaos, tweeting she would be waiting 20 hours for a flight. She eventually took taxi ‘to escape airport after more than 12 hours with no food or water’

Actor Adam Woodyatt voiced his frustration as a friend was left waiting nearly a week for their bags

It came as one traveller said on Twitter that her holiday was ‘ruined’ after finding out her flight to New York had been delayed by a whole day, while another reported being held back by six hours and counting ‘with no access to food and very little access to water’. 

There have also been reports of hours-long waits for luggage at Heathrow, while one man said he is ‘stuck in Boston’ after his flight was cancelled and has been unable to arrange alternative travel because BA’s telephone lines were busy. 

Almost all overnight transatlantic flights to Heathrow and Gatwick were disrupted by the glitch, with severe knock-on effects expected today with further flights potentially cancelled.

Some passengers reported being held on the tarmac for hours while cabin crew and pilots were left waiting on flight plans to get them to their destinations, with photos showing people sleeping in the aisle of some planes. 

Passengers landing at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 also faced long delays for their luggage, with EastEnders actor Adam Woodyatt complaining a friend had been left waiting days for their bags to arrive.

The technical issue caused massive delays to flights from the UK’s flagship airline, stranding passengers as at least nine long-haul flights to Heathrow were cancelled last night and this morning.

Departures to Denver, Boston, Tokyo, Washington DC, Nashville, Chicago, Toronto and three to New York JFK have been cancelled. 

Photos taken on one flight show people sleeping in the aisle during the long delay for take off

Passengers took to social media to complain about the delays and cancellations to their flights

In video footage from New York’s JFK airport, holidaymakers could be seen lying on the floor as they waited for updates, while others appeared tired

British Airways passengers waiting for flights last night were left frustrated as a ‘technical’ glitch grounded planes

Liz Hurley says she has been left stuck in Antigua after her flight was cancelled. Pictured: The actress during filming for a movie in the Caribbean earlier this year

The flights were set to carry at least 5,000 people, all of whom now face having to find alternate ways of getting to their destination just days before Christmas, the Independent reports.

Several other flights suffered long delays, including one from the US city of Philadelphia which is expected to land more than five-and-a-half hours behind schedule.

Others trying to catch flights reported being left waiting on the tarmac at New York’s JFK airport for more than four hours, with many disgruntled travellers taking to Twitter to vent their frustration.

Author Colin Dickey said on Twitter: ‘Captain of our British Airways flight just said that their flight computers have been down for two hours worldwide and no BA plane can file a flight plan? Seems not ideal. Anyway just chillin’ on the tarmac here at JFK, being cool.’

He added: ‘British Airways’ system has been down worldwide for 3 hours now; Captain said the last time this happened (earlier this year, wtf), it took 2-3 hours once the system came back online. (Putting this all here so other people stranded can find it, in case it’s helpful for them).’

He later tweeted that the airline had ‘borrowed’ a flight computer from Lufthansa, with his flight taking off more than four hours after it was scheduled to.

Other passengers reported delays across North America in flights that were meant to be departing from the likes of Toronto, Miami and Denver. Some were left forlornly looking at their planes as they were stuck on the tarmac.

A person with the username @NormaJeanRobin7 wrote: ‘BA flight cancelled. Awake for 24 hours! We have not been offered food or fluids. There are children in the queue.

Customers fume after being delayed for hours on end, with some reporting ‘no access to food’ and ‘very little access to water’ 

‘@British_Airways are telling everyone to book their own accommodation and flight back home to the UK. What a disgrace!!! Stranded at the airport. Help.’

A passenger with the Twitter account @kalim00 posted: ‘Our flight BA212 Boston to London Heathrow was cancelled after four hours sitting on the tarmac.

‘We were told we’d be rebooked on tomorrow’s flight automatically, but when I check my BA app this doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ve tried calling eight times but nobody picks up! Help!’

A Twitter user with an account named @R-S-Thomas added: ‘My 13-year-old daughter was due to fly home on cancelled flight BA114 from New York.

‘Now possibly stuck for days with the shambles of an airline. Sort your company out and get my daughter home.’

Author Colin Dickey tweeted about his hours-long ordeal while waiting for his flight from JFK to take off

There were also delays for passengers arriving into Terminal 5 at Heathrow last night, with photos showing hundreds of suitcases piled up high in the baggage reclaim hall.

Lorna Bryant, who arrived into the airport last night, told MailOnline the situation was a ‘nightmare’.

She said there were ‘hundreds, if not thousands, of suitcases dumped in a pile, unattended, awaiting staff to load them onto the conveyor belts’.

‘We have just been informed that baggage delays are expected to more than 90 minutes,’ she said. 

‘We also had delays when we landed. The pilot explained that there were no staff ready to assist them in parking the plane. No shuttle buses ready to take us to the terminal, either.’ 

She added there seemed to be ‘absolutely no staff’, and that ‘the pilot even suggested we leave a bad review because they’re sick of the delays every time they land at Heathrow’.

Video showed hundreds of bags piled up waiting to be returned to their owners at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 last night

Video taken inside Terminal 5 last night shows hundreds of bags piled up at the luggage reclaim

Passengers were seen forlornly waiting as they were stuck for more than hour for their luggage

Actress Charlotte Kennedy said her bags had not arrived nearly a week after landing at Heathrow

Actress Charlotte Kennedy said she had been left waiting nearly a week for her luggage to arrive after her bag was lost at Heathrow.

She tweeted: ‘Hiya British Airways me again, I understand Heathrow is a shambles right now but my bag is still there. It’s been almost a week and there is no indication of when it will arrive in Edinburgh. Patience running thin and my clothes running out lol if you don’t laugh, you will cry.’

EastEnder’s actor Adam Woodyatt also hit out at the airline in support of his friends, writing: ‘C’mon British Airways a day or two is bad enough but a week is beyond a joke.’

In a statement, BA said: ‘Our flights due to depart the USA tonight are currently delayed due to a technical issue with our third-party flight planning supplier, which we are urgently investigating.

‘We’re sorry for any disruption this will cause to our customers’ plans, our aim is for these flights to depart as quickly as possible.’

‘This is not a safety issue. We are keeping our customers up to date and providing them with refreshments,’ the airline added.

In a statement issued later in the night, it said: ‘Our teams have now resolved a temporary issue that affected some of our long-haul flight planning systems overnight, which resulted in delays to our schedule. 

‘We’re sorry for the disruption caused to our customers’ travel plans.’

BA has been contacted for comment about the delays at Terminal 5.

It comes days before potentially more Christmas chaos, as Border Force staff walk out for eight days between December 23 and New Year’s Eve in a dispute over pay.

Border Force staff will join rail workers, nurse and ambulance crews and postal workers on strike in the weeks around Christmas 

BA and Virgin Atlantic both announced that would be cutting the number of bookings into Heathrow as a result of the action, which will also see staff go on strike at Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff.

 It’s understood that all airline operators at Heathrow were urged to limit the number of new tickets being sold.

British Airways said that people already booked to travel to the airport during the strike days will still be able to do so. 

A BA spokesperson said the carrier was working with the government and airport ‘to ensure that we play our part in ensuring our customers are able to travel as planned at this important time of year’.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson also said it was working closely with government to ‘minimise the impact of Border Force strikes on our customers’ journeys’.