British Air Meltdown Feeds Outrage at Airline Cost Cuts
- Cost-cutting zeal blamed for massive computer failure
- ‘We do have a back-up system, but on this occasion it failed’
British Airways Computers Spark London Travel Chaos
British Airways’ epic meltdown over a busy holiday weekend further fanned public outrage of an industry infamous for its focus on cost cuts over customer service, leaving the U.K. carrier scrambling to explain how a local computer outage could lead to thousands of stranded passengers.
Amid United Airlines’ dragging fiasco, mass cancellations at Delta Air Lines and U.S. concerns about terrorists using laptops to down planes, the global aviation industry hardly needed another blow. But then on Saturday morning, a brief power surge knocked out British Airways’ communications systems grounding the carrier’s entire London operations, leading to days of chaos and putting the new chief executive officer in the hot seat. A full flight schedule is due to resume on Tuesday.