Virgin Australia flights in chaos

Virgin Australia flights are suffering heavy delays this morning after an IT breakdown at check-in.

VIRGIN Australia flights are in chaos this morning following an IT breakdown at Melbourne and Sydney airports that is delaying hundreds of passengers.

Australia’s second largest airline says “intermittent issues” with its check-in systems caused the trouble, which led angry passengers to lash out on social media.

One passenger said he had gone through eight gate changes for their flight, another said their plane to Melbourne has to turn back to Sydney, while others complained of missed connections.

There are reports Virgin had to move to a “manual system” at one point to check in passengers, adding to wait times.

GRRR @virginaustralia check-in system at @SydneyAirport is down - long queues growing already. Bad start to the day http://pic.twitter.com/DNNCfFbell

— Flip Prior (@FlipPrior) February 1, 2016

Bad day to be catching a @VirginAustralia flight. Their system is down, there're around 6 planes worth of people lining up...

— Steph Coombes (@Steph_Coombes) February 1, 2016

@VirginAustralia Sydney airport is chaos I have had 8 gate changes still waiting for VA925 to board to Brisbane what is going ??

— Trevor White ™ (@TdwhiteWhite) February 1, 2016

@VirginAustralia what a joke, systems down, people everywhere no staff to be found. Should have flown Qantas

— Stephen Maynard (@StephenMaynard9) February 1, 2016

On Facebook, Virgin Australia said: “We are currently experiencing intermittent issues affecting our check-in system. We are working hard to rectify the issue as quickly as possible.”

At 9.30am, the airline said it had fixed the IT issue but there was no word on how long it would take to clear the backlog of passengers and flights.

On Sydney Airport’s website seven Virgin Australia flights are listed as being delayed while Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport says as many as 13 of the carrier’s flights are behind schedule, some by up to an hour.

The airline confirmed that Melbourne was experiencing IT issues at check-in, but queues are also forming at Virgin’s Sydney terminal.

There have been no reports that Virgin’s low-cost subsidiary, Tigerair Australia, is affected.

Commenting on Facebook, traveller Dave Corbin said, “Thousands of people in Sydney airport are wondering if you’ve tried turning it off and back on again?”

Virgin Australia thanked him for his input.

It would have been a stressful morning for Virgin Australia chief executive officer John Borghetti as well as his passengers. Picture: Darren EnglandSource:News Corp Australia

The Sydney to Melbourne route is the world’s third busiest with 8 million passengers a year and flights as frequent as every 15 minutes during peak periods.

News.com.au has contacted Virgin Australia for comment.