British Airways passengers travelling from London Heathrow’s Terminal Four to long-haul destinations experienced a major disruption on Wednesday caused by an ongoing software failure.

Travellers in the economy and premium economy classes had their travel plans "seriously impacted" as they could not check in luggage, but airport operator BAA expects the situation to go back to normal in the next few hours.

"We are now confident that a full service will be able to be offered to all passengers tomorrow," said BAA in a statement.

"But passengers should still check on baa.com or ba.com before travelling to the airport to ensure they have the latest flight information."

Some airlines are investing further in technology in a bid to enhance efficiency in baggage handling.

BAA and Emirates are trialling radio frequency identification (RFID) technology at London Heathrow and Dubai airports to improve baggage tracking and hope to extend the technology across the airport if the six-month trial is successful.

"The project could significantly improve the efficiency of Heathrow's baggage system,” said BAA head of product development Stephen Challis.