British Airways says computer glitches causing delays

Credit: Steve Parsons - PA Images

Credit: Steve Parsons - PA Images

Computer problems are causing long lines and flight delays for British Airways passengers worldwide, the BBC reported Saturday. Airline officials apologized for the "global system outage" and said they were "working to resolve the problem as quickly as possible."

Heathrow Airport said it was "working closely" with British Airways to solve the issue.

British Airways announced later Saturday that it had canceled all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick for the rest of the day, according to Sky News.

It is not known how many flights were affected, but passengers have reported issues at a number of airports through social media.

Journalist Martyn Kent told the BBC he was sitting on a plane for 90 minutes at Heathrow Airport. He said the airplane’s captain told passengers the computer problems were "catastrophic."

Philip Bloom said he had been waiting in Belfast on board a Heathrow-bound flight for two hours.

"We haven't been told very much just that there is a worldwide computer system failure,” he told the BBC. “We were told that we couldn't even get on other flights because they are unable to see what flights we can be moved to."

Bloom later said that his flight was able to take off and fly to London.

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