British Airways cancels over 140 flights ahead of the bank holiday weekend

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British Airways has canceled more than 140 flights ahead of a bank holiday weekend as it grapples with a computer glitch affecting some passengers’ ability to check-in remotely.

A person familiar with the airline’s operations said 23 departures from Heathrow were canceled on Friday morning, leading to the scrapping of 46 return flights. A further 20 arrivals at Heathrow were canceled because flights departing on Thursday were not operated.

A total of 80 flights were canceled on Thursday. The airline’s website asked passengers to check the status of their flight before going to the airport. “We are aware of a technical issue, which we have been working hard to resolve,” the website said.

British Airways he said he apologized to passengers whose flights had been affected and offered them the option of rebooking an alternative flight with BA or another carrier or requesting a refund. The airline normally operates around 850 flights a day.

The carrier, part of International Airlines Group, said it has concentrated cancellations on routes with more daily flights to ensure passengers have alternatives. A sample of 67 BA scheduled departures from Heathrow on Friday showed two cancellations and 30 scheduled to depart late.

BA said: “While the vast majority of our flights continue to operate today, we have canceled some of our short-haul flights from Heathrow due to the knock-on effect of a technical issue we experienced yesterday.”

Friday’s disruption comes on top of the latest strike action by some Heathrow security workers belonging to the Unite union. Friday is the second of three consecutive days of staff action. Heathrow insisted the action, which it deemed unnecessary, had no effect on airport operations, which it described as smooth.

Like many other European airline groups, IAG has forecast summer travel levels at or above those seen in 2019 before the pandemic decimated demand for air travel. The group it raised its earnings forecast for the full year on May 5 in response to recovery in travel demand and falling fuel costs

BA did not provide any indication of when it expected operations to return to normal following the two-day disruption.