British Airways: Passengers 'charged hundreds for hotels' after computer crash cancels flights from Heathrow and Gatwick

Furious holidaymakers have told of being left stranded in London after a British Airways computer crash caused chaos at airports and grounded flights worldwide.

Travellers have reported being charged extortionate sums to stay at nearby hotels, while many passengers took to sleeping on the floor at Heathrow Airport following the crash on Saturday.

British Airways cancelled all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick following the systems failure, which was believed to have been caused by a power supply issue.

But despite the airline promising a “near-normal service” at the airports this morning, numerous holidaymakers are still being delayed.

Pictures have emerged on social media of queues outside hotels, with numerous people also saying their bags had been lost in the chaos.

Neal Clements, 65, travelled from Birmingham with his family for week-long holiday to Jordan.

He ended up staying Wokingham after being unable to book a hotel room near Heathrow, having queued for hours outside the nearby Hotel Mecure.

Prices rocketed on the online booking.com site after the crash, with hotels charging hundreds more for rooms, he claimed.

Mr Clements told the Standard: “We got there joined the queue and sort of worked our way to the front. They said if you’ve booked today there’s no room, but they didn’t tell you that until you were almost at the desk.

“The staff weren’t doing anything, they just sort of let the queue build up. The indifference is palpable.

“It’s been depressing to think that such a large organisation can have so little crisis management.”

Passengers lucky enough to be aboard one of the few flights taking off on Saturday claimed they found their hold luggage had not made it onto the plane with them.

Musician Charles Trippy, bassist with US rock band We The Kings, complained to BA via Twitter that his instrument was missing.

The band are on the bill at the Slam Dunk Music Festival, which has shows in Leeds on Sunday and Hatfield on Monday.

Trippy tweeted: "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".

Terry Page, 28, from London, flew from Heathrow to Fort Worth, Texas, where he and "about 50" others were told they would have to wait until Monday before being reunited with their bags.

Experts predict the disruption could continue for several days and the airline is facing huge compensation costs after all its flights from the two airports were cancelled on Saturday.

British Airways has apologised for the "huge disruption" the computer failure caused and said that engineers were continuing to work hard to restore its services.

The airline is also expected to have to pay out huge sums in compensation, including the cost of hotels, transport and meal expenses for stranded passengers.

A Heathrow spokeswoman said: "Following a worldwide British Airways' IT system issue yesterday, delays and cancellations of British Airways flights are expected today.

"Prior to travelling to the airport, all British Airways passengers who are due to fly today should check the status of their flight.”

A Gatwick spokesman said: "We would advise customers travelling with British Airways over the bank holiday weekend to continue to check the status of their flight with British Airways before travelling to the airport.

"Customers affected by Saturday's flight cancellations should not travel to the airport today unless they have already rebooked onto another flight.