British Airways passenger has 'worst honeymoon ever' amid IT chaos

Melanie Ware and her newlywed husband were on their way to Venice on Saturday night when they landed at Heathrow on what was supposed to be a layover. They still haven't left.

"We're stuck. This is the worst honeymoon ever," said Mrs Ware, who was caught in the disruption caused by a massive IT failure at British Airways.

Mrs Ware said they waited hours at the airport for luggage that still hasn't materialised, while the flight to Italy they had rebooked also got cancelled.

"This is our second day of our honeymoon, we were supposed to be in Venice last night," she told Sky News.

"BA is the worst, they're ruining everything.

"Everyone is upset, there are people in tears, not just me, and their customer service is the worst."

From holidays spoiled to luggage lost, the BA glitch has brought disruption to thousands of passengers at the start of a holiday weekend.

As travellers at Heathrow and Gatwick were stranded in congested terminals, confused BA staff were unable to help as they had no access to their computers.

BA has apologised for the disruption, saying it was working to refund or rebook affected travellers as quickly as possible.

"I know this has been a horrible time for customers," said Alex Cruz, the airline's chairman and CEO.

"On behalf of everyone at BA I want to apologise for the fact that you have to go through these very trying experiences."

But it did little to calm passengers.

Graham Saunders told Sky News he and his family sat for five hours at Heathrow on Saturday hoping to be able to board their flight to Spain. They checked in their luggage manually and waited - and waited.

"No one at any stage said the flight was going to be cancelled," said Mr Saunders, who went back to Heathrow on Sunday to reclaim his luggage and try to rebook with a different airline.

Mr Saunders said he could not get through to anybody at BA - echoing a complaint voiced by other travellers.

"No one from BA will actually speak to you. Incredible," he said.

"I want to go on holiday. How can they think you can just rebook and go on holiday whenever it suits them? When are we going to have our bags back?"

Terry Page, 28, from London, managed to get on one of the last flights from Heathrow to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. He arrived but his luggage did not.

He said he and scores of other passengers were eventually told that BA did not know where the bags were - and that hopefully they would be able to receive them on Monday.

"It's affected so many people. Some 80-year-old lady was standing around waiting for announcements - and she fell over," he said.

"We helped her up and she said 'I'm just so tired'. It's been a terrible, terrible day."

Luke Limbach recalled going through the gates at Heathrow, and then "we were pushed out, back to baggage reclaim, given a piece of paper and that was it - we couldn't talk to anybody and we were kicked out of the airport, basically".

Musician Charles Trippy, bassist with US rock band We The Kings, said his instrument was missing. The band is scheduled to perform at the Slam Dunk Music Festival, which has shows in Leeds on Sunday and Hatfield on Monday.

"Dear @British_Airways please find my bass. It's getting frustrating that you don't know where it is. I kinda need it for work. No big deal," he tweeted.

Branding expert Jonathan Gabay called BA's handling of the situation a "debacle".

"There has been a total lack of communication. It's all great that they're saying that they are going to put a refund out as soon as possible.

"But that doesn't really mean anything to the people who are stranded out there. What they should have had is great communications with a back-up plan."

Passenger Amy Morgan had planned a hen party in Tallinn, Estonia, with her girlfriends. Instead, she ended up in a London hotel after waiting for more than four hours at the airport.

But she was not going to let that spoil her plans.

"We made the best out of it, we had a really good night out last night and we're not going to Tallinn any time soon so we booked at an Airbnb in London," she told Sky News.

"So we're going to have a London hen instead, which is fine."