Travel Troubles For Thousands Of People Flying Southwest Airlines Including Here In Baltimore
LINTHICUM, Md. (WJZ) -- Crowds continued to grow at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport on Tuesday after hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled due to technical issues.
"This trip completely let us down," said Beverly Schulgerbrandt, traveler.
Long lines and upset travelers packed BWI Airport as Southwest Airlines planes were temporarily grounded.
"We literally had just gotten through security and they canceled the flight," said Schulgerbrandt,
"It's just a nightmare," said Andrea Page, traveler.
For the second day in a row, hundreds of Southwest flights were canceled across the country. Takeoffs came to halt for nearly an hour after the FAA issued a ground stop saying the airline was dealing with technical issues and problems with its computer reservation system.
"It took us two days to come home when it normally would take us two hours," said Shreya Hessler, airline passenger.
According to the flight tracking service, FlightAware, Southwest delayed more than 1,500 flights on Monday and canceled 45 after officials said a third-party weather provider experienced "intermittent performance issues."
Just 24 hours later, an additional 1,200 flights were canceled. "I'm tired this is my second cancellation in 5 days and all of this is costing me money for extra hotel rooms," said Daniel Owens, traveler.
In a tweet, Southwest said "it's in the process of resuming normal operations after a brief pause," blaming the issue on their network connectivity.
We are in the process of resuming normal operations after a system issue this afternoon that created flight disruptions throughout our network. We know many Customers still require assistance and are working to address those concerns as quickly as possible. (1/2)
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) June 15, 2021
The issues sparked long waits on the tarmac and chaos rebooking flights. "We can't get flights until Thursday," said Myra Johnson, traveler.
"A trip that usually takes us 3 hours took us 5," said Schulgerbrandt.
For some travelers, it's putting a major strain on their vacation plans. "I plan on flying out Thursday evening with my family for a dream vacation and I'm petrified that this will happen all over again," said Hessler.
Southwest said it's investigating the issues and doesn't believe it's connected to yesterday's problems. The company said its working with customers to quickly reschedule flights.