DAMAGE LIMITATION British Airways boss âtries to gag staffâ over IT failure which hit 300,000 passengers after âinexperienced staff outsourced to India didnât know to launch back up systemâ
The airline's check-in and operational systems crashed on Saturday and saw thousands of passengers trying to travel on Bank Holiday weekend left stranded. THE British Airways boss is alleged to have tried to âgag staffâ over the IT meltdown which hit 300,000 passengers â as inexperienced staff in India didnât know how to launch the back up system, it has been claimed.
The airlineâs check-in and operational systems crashed on Saturday and saw thousands of people trying to travel on Bank Holiday weekend left stranded. And boss Alex Cruz has been blamed for the disaster, but it is now claimed he tried to stop staff talking about the problems experienced after outsourcing staff to India.
In an email to staff obtained by the Daily Mail, he wrote: âGuys, either you are part of the team working to fix this or you arenât. We are not in the mode of âdebriefing on what happenedâ but rather âletâs fix this modeâ.â Adding: âIn the meantime, if you do not want to get involved or cannot get involved, I would kindly ask you to refrain from live commentary, unless it is a message of support to the thousands of colleagues that love BA as much as you do.â
Yesterday passengers were pictured sleeping rough at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports and queuing outside in their thousands â with the airlineâs âinexperiencedâ boss now getting the blame. The chief executive, who founded budget carrier Clickair and ran airline Vueling before moving to work for British Airways in 2016, has been accused of replacing British IT professionals with cheap overseas workers since taking the role. And GMB union bosses say that this move may have led to this weekendâs chaos â a whistle-blower even claimed bosses knew about the âdodgyâ systems.
Aviation expert Julian Bray told The Daily Mail: âI would have expected someone with major international airline experience to be put in charge, rather than someone who has been in charge of two smaller airlines, with an indifferent financial record. âI donât feel he has the depth of knowledge required to inject radical competitive new thinking into the up-market British Airways brand.
âCruz is known as being an outsourcer and cost-cutter, stripping out frills and cutting head count, and therefore not particularly suited to an upmarket, people-intensive, luxury-price brand.â
Distraught passengers were reportedly told they wouldnât be refunded after the massive IT meltdown. Departure boards this morning showed flights departing from Gatwick early on Sunday, however several flights from Heathrow were cancelled. A Heathrow spokesman said yesterday "delays and cancellations of British Airways flights are expected today", while the airline said there would be "some knock-on disruption to our schedules on Sunday, as aircraft and crews are out of position around the world".
Musician Charles Trippy, bassist with US rock band We Was Kings, complained to BA via Twitter that his instrument was missing.
Dear @British_Airways please find my bass. Itâs getting frustrating that you donât know where it is. I kinda need it for work. No big deal đ
â Charles Trippy (@CharlesTrippy) May 28, 2017
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".
British Airways have apologised and said they are continuing to work to fix the problem and the impact it is having. Delays were also reported in the US, Rome, Prague, Milan, Stockholm and Malaga. The log-jam also hit passengers landing as they had nowhere to disembark. Amid the "carnage" ground staff resorted to scrawling messages for pilots on pieces of paper.
thesun .co.uk/news/3672676/british-airways-boss-tries-gag-staff-it-failure/