Technical Issues Create System-Wide Delays For Southwest Airlines
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) -- Southwest Airlines says a system-wide computer glitch shut down their website and caused delays for travelers at airports across the country.
A spokesperson at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport said the company began experiencing technical issues around 2:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, July 20th.
About two hours later, flights reportedly began moving again.
FAA says @SouthwestAir has lifted the ground stop and flights are beginning to move, but expect some residual delays.
— Kris Van Cleave (@krisvancleave) July 20, 2016
The airline tweeted that they were aware of the issues and were working on fixing them.
We are aware and investigating current issues with our systems. We will keep you posted as we have more information to share.
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) July 20, 2016
Passengers experienced long lines inside the terminal at Southwest's ticket counter as they apparently were unable to check people in electronically. Manual check-ins helped add to the headache.
For some, flights were cancelled. Others were been delayed since the morning.
"I feel bad for whoever's working on that side," said passenger Alan Haskell. "But it's just frustrating for everybody. The lines are really long and hopefully nobody misses their flight."
The company's website was rendered unavailable for most of the day.
If you are seeing this image on the site you are in our waiting room. Don't refresh; we are working hard on a fix. pic.twitter.com/B1IDrDR2aC
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) July 20, 2016
In total, five outbound flights and 15 inbound flights were delayed at FLL.