Passengers at Heathrow Airport faced chaos this morning after a computer glitch left them helplessly unable to check-in any luggage.
In scenes of pure frustration, the technical difficulty meant that those turning up at Terminal Five – from where nearly all BA flights operate at Heathrow – were told that if they had bags needing to go in the aircraft hold they would be unable to travel.
Queues form as British Airways' passengers with check-in luggage were unable to fly
Heathrow's Terminal 5 was thrown into total disarray by the glitch
The airport says the problem has now been resolved, but many passengers still face mammoth queues, missed flights and delays.
Simon Frusher, who was flying to New York told the BBC: "There are now thousands of people with missed flights, as planes went on time.
"Huge queues now for rebooking... unsure as yet what flight we can get."
The IT difficulty meant those turning up at T5 with bags needing to go in the aircraft hold were not able to travel
Today's difficulties began around 9am with some passengers unable to check in
By around 11.30am Heathrow said its staff had restored partial check-in for hold baggage and were working hard to restore full operations
Incoming flights were unaffected by the issue an airport spokesman said, while BA apologised for the total disarray.
"We are sorry for any inconvenience to customers and we are working hard with the airport owner to minimise any disruption," A BA spokesman said.
The terminal infamously had a disastrous opening day in March 2008 when hundreds of bags went astray, causing long flight delays.