British Airways flights delayed after Europe-wide computer glitch

A Europe-wide computer glitch is causing delays for British Airways passengers.

At Heathrow airport, some flight were leaving late and the computer problem, which is affecting luggage, means some passengers will have to fly without their hold luggage.

British Airways was one of the many airlines affected. One passenger, Dan Rivers, took to Twitter to say his BA flight had departed "minus 100 bags".

A BA spokesman said: "We are doing all we can to minimise disruption caused by an IT failure which is affecting the performance of baggage systems at numerous airports.

"We are very sorry if customers have not received their baggage and we will reunite them as quickly as possible."

A spokesman for management at Heathrow said: "We are aware that there is a European issue with the Sita system that manages bags for some airlines.

"We understand that Sita is applying a fix to the problem and we hope that it will be resolved soon. In the meantime airlines that are affected are processing bags manually. The problem is causing some delays but is not currently causing any flight cancellations at Heathrow."

A spokesman for Gatwick airport said: "The IT issue with SITA has been resolved. Gatwick's contingency plans worked well and there were no issues with lost baggage or delayed flights."

A SITA spokesman said: "Earlier today (Friday) SITA experienced issues with its baggage message system at some airports in Europe.

"The service has been stabilised and investigations continue to identify the root cause. We regret any inconvenience caused."

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