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LHR ATC tower evacuation & Altea down [18 July 2018]

LHR ATC tower evacuation & Altea down [18 July 2018]

Old Jul 19, 2018, 2:39 am
  #46  
 
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Not if it's another PNR and it operates normally, but it is possible the BA agent in LON may be sympathetic to a timing change.
Tried changing time but no luck, as the flights were either cancelled or no options for me to choose it online.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 3:07 am
  #47  
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Originally Posted by simons1
I suppose the mention of other airlines means for EC261 purposes BA intends to blame ATC and bury the FLY issues?
For the record, BA today are saying :

Originally Posted by Answer Id 6819 Updated 19/07/2018 07.49 AM (UK time)
Our flights are operating today, however we expect some knock on disruption from yesterday's combination of a temporary closure of Heathrow Airport's air traffic control tower and a supplier system issue which affected a number of airlines.
Looks to be about a dozen short haul flights delayed overnight. From reports of family members stuck at AMS, whose departure time slipped back 4 times before being cancelled, it felt it was an ongoing systems issue rather than a 1-off delay caused by the tower closure.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 3:16 am
  #48  
 
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What a shambles, eh...
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 3:35 am
  #49  
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Originally Posted by mmxbreaks
What a shambles, eh...
Well ... a perfect storm of two unrelated issues, leading inevitably to numerous aircraft and pax/crews ending up in the wrong places.

Given the complexity of the overall scheduling issues involved, it was never going to be resolved in 10 minutes. And on this occasion, not BA's fault either.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 4:22 am
  #50  
 
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So I had an interesting experience last night due to the cancellations disruption....not related to getting re booked or hotel ( luckily my Corp TA sorted that for me) but I could not exit the airport. BA staff at T5 directed passengers to exit via gate 19. This led us down to the main arrivals area, mixed with all other international arrivals. There were around 100 domestic passengers with no passport ( including me) who could not exit. Border Control would not let us through until they manually verified everyone ( not sure what this involved...phone calls to Home Office staff?). They said that BA should not have sent domestic pax this route to exit ? Should there have been another exit for Domestics?
Anyway, lesson learned. Carry passport for Dom flights from now on!!
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 4:43 am
  #51  
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I was on the BA 837 from Dublin, due to land at 16.45. At about 17.00 the captain came on and told us about the problems at LHR. We eventually landed at STN about 17.45. What followed was a litany of disappointment, even though we were told that LHR had re-opened soon after we landed. About 20.15 the captain came out (not for the fist time) and told us that he had "given up" as he could not get anyone in "the company" to provide a load sheet, so the flight was cancelled. He stated that there would be staff from Swissport to help us with out onward travel. Suffice to say, I did not see a soul offering help. I only had hand baggage, so made a quick escape and found an Uber. There may well have been assistance at the baggage carousel. I can understand that the control tower fire alarm was 'extraordinary circumstances' but the subsequent failure to get us on our way was surely BA's responsibility?
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 5:09 am
  #52  
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Originally Posted by squeeler
I can understand that the control tower fire alarm was 'extraordinary circumstances' but the subsequent failure to get us on our way was surely BA's responsibility?
The fire / diversion will be extraordinary circumstances. The Amadeus failure may not be directly BA's fault, and they may claim extraordinary circumstances, however that won't stand up to challenge either in MCOL or CEDR since BA is responsible for its suppliers - there is legal precedent and rulings covering this area.

In terms of your experience, there is a separate set of rulings that even if there are experience extraordinary circumstances, airlines are still responsible for the timely resolution of problems. Now you would have to give a bit of a margin here, since even if the processes were slick it would take a bit of time to get back to normal, so you'll have to make a judgement call on what would have been reasonable time to refuel, requeue for the stack and so on.

So you have two lines of approach there, but I would expect an initial rejection.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 6:03 am
  #53  
 
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Originally Posted by Oxon Flyer
For the record, BA today are saying :

Originally Posted by Answer Id 6819 Updated 19/07/2018 07.49 AM (UK time)
Our flights are operating today, however we expect some knock on disruption from yesterday's combination of a temporary closure of Heathrow Airport's air traffic control tower and a supplier system issue which affected a number of airlines


Looks to be about a dozen short haul flights delayed overnight. From reports of family members stuck at AMS, whose departure time slipped back 4 times before being cancelled, it felt it was an ongoing systems issue rather than a 1-off delay caused by the tower closure.
That is what was being reported on the news channels last night. Of course my guess is that regardless of what actually caused your family member's delay BA will blame ATC/suppliers etc and reject all claims. Knowing that few people will know/have the appetite to chase through MCOL.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 6:48 am
  #54  
 
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Hello from LGA. It sounds I was lucky yesterday, managing to make it to JFK on the BA179. We left more than an hour late as they had load load figures manually into the system.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 7:10 am
  #55  
 
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BAs latest update names Amadeus as the cause of the issue (in addition to the ATC problem).

What an utterly pathetic way of doing business, avoiding ownership and a desperate attempt to avoid paying compensation.

You dont see other companies naming IBM, HP, Wipro etc. when their services fall over. BA are happy to take the credit themselves when things are going ok but run a mile at the first sniff of trouble. What a partner to have....
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 8:13 am
  #56  
 
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Any bugs in a system update should have been found in proper testing on Pre-Productive parallel system, sounds like this was inadequate or non-existent. Also to have no roll-back parallel run scenario when you update systems is very poor planing too.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 8:17 am
  #57  
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Do I hear the howling of the Compensation Wolf-Pack?


Stuff happens. At least, it does in the imperfect world I have to live in.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 8:24 am
  #58  
 
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Originally Posted by T8191
Do I hear the howling of the Compensation Wolf-Pack?


Stuff happens. At least, it does in the imperfect world I have to live in.
stuff certainly does happen, though maybe not as frequently to some companies as it does to others.

But when it does happen, you own the issue yourself, as ultimately you chose to outsource your technology stack (or whatever the service in question is). You certainly dont hold your suppliers up as a shield and hide behind them in a pitiful attempt to avoid paying compensation. Its almost unprecedented to name a supplier.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 8:36 am
  #59  
 
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Originally Posted by Kgmm77
BA’s latest update names Amadeus as the cause of the issue (in addition to the ATC problem).

What an utterly pathetic way of doing business, avoiding ownership and a desperate attempt to avoid paying compensation.

You don’t see other companies naming IBM, HP, Wipro etc. when their services fall over. BA are happy to take the credit themselves when things are going ok but run a mile at the first sniff of trouble. What a partner to have....
Makes me wonder if all these new fandangled systems are worth the pain. I don't remember all these issues on the old TPF systems (DCS/BABS) but then maybe I have my rose tinted glasses on.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 8:44 am
  #60  
 
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Originally Posted by airline brat
Stuck at CDG, delay on 327 is now at 3 hours (showing Midnight departure, Midnight arrival). They will have to round up a new crew, land after curfew....wonder how long before they just call this one? Also guessing that they won't put us up anywhere for the night if it's cancelled as it's an event beyond their control.
Called Gold Line, they are completely blind at the moment as all systems are down.
From experience, they will pay most costs.
I was on 329.
Booked an airport hotel as soon as I saw crew coming off plane and 5 mins before announcement of overnight delay by gate staff and their claim there were "no rooms available at airport hotels".
Not BA's fault but they should be obliged to tell people their rights - lots of families with kids slept in airport.
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