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Massive Weekend British Airways Meltdown Credited to “Power Surge”

IT crash which stranded over 75,000 passengers credited as one of the biggest in British history.

Days after a major IT crash stranded over 75,000 British Airways passengers, many are still trying to get their items back as the carrier returns to normal operations. The Telegraph reports that the carrier is planning to fulfill their regular schedule and simultaneously work to recover from a “power surge” that knocked systems out over the Memorial Day weekend.

The situation began on Saturday, May 27, around 9:30 a.m. local time. An event identified by British Airways executives as a “power surge” caused a domino effect in computer systems, resulting in all messaging breaking down system-wide. By the evening, the British flag carrier canceled all of their flights, forcing passengers to take refuge on the floor overnight at both London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and London Gatwick Airport (LGW).

According to passengers, those limited British Airways flights that did depart often did not travel with luggage aboard. The airline acknowledged the service break and noted that they were working to reunite passengers with their bags.

“Although we have already flown many bags to the correct airport, there is still some work to do and we know there are still significant numbers of customers who are yet to receive their luggage,” a British Airways spokesperson told The Telegraph. “We are very sorry for the frustration this situation is causing at a very busy time of year for holidays.”

The airline does not believe the IT outage to be the result of a cyber attack, nor is it believed that the system failure is the result of outsourcing jobs. British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz has promised a full investigation, with the results released once complete.

British Airways’ computer failure could be one of the biggest and most expensive in British history. Comparing it to other breakdowns, The Telegraph estimates that the outage could cost the carrier over $128 million in compensation costs alone.

[Photo: Shutterstock]

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Sydneyberlin May 31, 2017

It issues like this don't 'just appear' out of thin air and it strangely tends to happen with BA at a much faster rate than most other airlines. So it's not too far fetched to assume that the same money pinching strategies which the airline employs in all other areas, will also (even more so, probably!) apply to their IT and software departments. And when you outsource everything and save even the last little penny possible, then stuff like this goes down.

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ioto1902 May 31, 2017

Power surge ... They want us to believe that ??