BA flight disruption at Heathrow set for third day

British Airways passengers are facing a third day of disruption at Heathrow as the airline deals with the impact of a worldwide computer system crash.

BA says it aims to operate a full long-haul schedule and a "high proportion" of short-haul services after the outage caused by a power failure. It says passengers should check the status of flights before travelling.

Queues built up on Sunday at Heathrow Terminal 5 as passengers waited to speak to BA staff

Cancellations and delays affected thousands of passengers at both Heathrow and Gatwick on Saturday. All flights operated from Gatwick on Sunday but more than a third of services from Heathrow - mostly to short-haul destinations - were cancelled.

In a statement, BA said its IT systems were moving "closer to full operational capacity".

• Five key questions for BA
• Wedding on hold amid BA travel woes
• BA passengers 'trying not to cry'

"We continue to make good progress in rebuilding our operation, following Saturday's major IT systems failure which severely affected our operations worldwide," it added.

"At Heathrow, we have operated virtually all our scheduled long-haul flights, though the knock-on effects of Saturday's disruption resulted in a reduced short-haul programme.

"We apologise again to customers for the frustration and inconvenience they are experiencing and thank them for their continued patience."

Yoga mats

BA is liable to reimburse thousands of passengers for refreshments and hotel expenses, and travel industry commentators have suggested the cost to the company - part of Europe's largest airline group IAG - could run in to tens of millions of pounds.

Customers displaced by flight cancellations can claim up to £200 a day for a room (based on two people sharing), £50 for transport between the hotel and airport, and £25 a day per adult for meals and refreshments.

On Saturday night, travellers spent the night sleeping on terminal floors at Heathrow on yoga mats provided by BA.

The disruption continued into Sunday, with queues building up as passengers tried to rebook flights. Conference rooms at the airport were opened to provide somewhere more comfortable for passengers to rest.

BA said Heathrow was still expected to be congested on Monday and urged travellers not to go to the airport unless they had a confirmed booking for a flight that was operating.

It said passengers could get a full refund or rebook to travel up to the end of November but recommend they use its website.