Computer glitch delays Qantas flights

Airports across the country were thrown into chaos today when the automatic check-in system used by Qantas failed for more than three hours.

The network-wide failure of the Amadeus computer program, which is used by Qantas for check-ins, at about 2pm caused significant delays at airports across Australia, including at Perth's international and domestic terminals.

Airline staff were forced to check passengers in manually.

A Qantas spokeswoman blamed the incident on a technical fault within the Amadeus program and apologised for the inconvenience caused by the delays.

She confirmed Qantas experienced nationwide delays for all its flights but said the problem was fixed at about 5.30pm. She said the airline "immediately" began reducing its backlog.

The spokeswoman said the Amadeus problem was not confined to Qantas, with many international airlines who use the system similarly affected.

Airlines including British Airways, Air France, South African Airways, Thai Airways, Lufthansa and United Airlines were all reportedly caught up in the system meltdown.

A Virgin Blue spokesman said the airline did not use Amadeus for domestic flights and Perth services were affected.

The spokesman said Virgin used the system for international flights but only experienced one flight delay as a result of the fault, with a Los Angeles-bound flight from Sydney briefly delayed.