Travellers planning a late break this month face higher fares and disruption that could last until September, experts have warned, after British Airways extended its suspension of short-haul ticket sales from Heathrow airport. The British flag carrier, the largest operator from Heathrow, said on Tuesday that it would be suspending sales until August 15 — a week longer than first announced 24 hours earlier. The move will affect BA’s domestic and European routes, as well as flights via Morocco and Cairo. BA blamed the suspension on Heathrow’s decision last month to impose a daily limit of 100,000 passengers on departures from the airport until September 11, a reduction from 104,000 seats originally scheduled for the summer. Heathrow introduced the cap to avoid more travel disruption. The airline said it was acting responsibly to comply with the cap and ensure it could protect existing bookings. It added: “When Heathrow introduced its passenger cap, we took a small number of additional flights from our schedule . . . to continue to comply with the cap, we’ve been limiting sales or all the available fares on some of our Heathrow services to ensure more seats are available to rebook customers.” Heathrow said on Tuesday it had acted to “provide better, more reliable journeys this summer”. The airport said it was pleased BA was “acting responsibly and also putting the passenger first”. While travel plans for holidaymakers who have booked in advance will not be affected, experts warned the decision would limit capacity and lead to higher fares for those wanting to book last minute. “This will cause severe inconvenience for anyone planning to book a last- minute summer break or business trip,” said Rob Burgess, editor of frequent flyer website headforpoints.com. “There are no alternative carriers from Heathrow for all of BA’s short-haul routes and even where alternatives exist those carriers will also face Heathrow-imposed capacity constraints,” he added.<br/>