We’ve been in computer repair for over twenty years now. We’ve seen a lot of things. But we see a disturbing but more frequent trend. That trend is airlines shutting down because of computer problems. Saturday, it happened again. British Airways shut down because of IT failure.
They say one power supply failure crashed all check-in and operation systems. London Heathrow and Gatewick, British Airways’ biggest hubs, shut down. So try to imagine the chaos. Heathrow’s Terminal 5’s lines stretched outside. The IT failure cancelled hundreds of flights. In fact, all BA flights to and from the hub airports had to be cancelled. Then, even today, BA cancelled 36 ?flights involving the two hubs. This clean up effort will be slow, to say the least.
But back to the chaos. British Airways shelled out thousands of dollars on food, hotels, and ground travel to displaced customers. Still, thousands of stranded travelers had to sleep on airport floors. Even today, Heathrow Terminal 5 filled with angst and tempers. People who booked today can only hope and pray their travel plans are still in tact. Yesterday’s British Airways shut down lasted for hours. It was late evening before any BA flight got back up in air. But for many people, it was already too late. They don’t expect this to be a cyber attack. This was just an honest mistake.
But that brings me to my next point. British Airways shut down because of IT failure. But what if a hacker, cyber terrorist, or any psychopath wanted to shut down major airlines? This incident just proves it would be really easy to do. Apparently, just shut down one power supply. I don’t know about you, but this scares me to death! And British Airways is one of the most respected airlines in the world! This left thousands of people stranded, hurt and confused on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. If this can happen to British Airways, is there any hope for the rest of us?