Technical issues delay many Southwest flights
DALLAS — Southwest Airlines said hundreds of flights had been delayed by technical issues and warned passengers f lying Monday to arrive two hours early and print boarding passes before coming to the airport.
The Dallas-based company said that it was using backup systems around the country to check in travelers who lacked a printed or mobile boarding pass, but that technology problems that began Sunday morning were continuing.
Southwest said about 450 of the 3,600 f lights scheduled for the day had been delayed.
Representatives for Southwest did not say what caused the problem or how long it would take to resolve. Spokesman Brad Hawkins said there was “absolutely no indication now” that the problems were the result of hackers.
At Los Angeles International Airport, several dozen people crowded the Southwest terminal waiting to be issued handwritten tickets.
E.J. Schultz, a reporter for Ad Age who was taking a Southwest flight from Chicago’s Midway International Airport, said the airline was telling people at the gate that travelers with paper boarding passes were OK to board.
But those who had downloaded their tickets onto their cellphones were told they had to stand in line for a printed pass, he said.
Schultz said he didn’t understand why Southwest hadn’t announced that people should have printed out their boarding passes before getting to the airport.
“If everyone had done that, it would’ve saved so much time,” he said.
Schultz said there was a line of about 50 people at the assigned gate. His flight took off about 15 minutes after its scheduled departure time of 4:30 p.m.
The long lines at check-in may have caused some passengers to miss their flights.
Emily Mitnick, who was flying to Detroit from Denver International Airport, said she missed her 10 a.m. flight — even though she parked her car about 8 a.m. — because of long lines at check-in and at curbside. By the time she got in line to go through security, it was about 10:15 a.m.
“The clock was ticking and the flight took off,” said Mitnick, who was trying to get on a different flight.
Last month, American Airlines experienced computer problems that prevented passengers from checking in and briefly halted flights on select routes.
Airline officials said at the time that they fixed the problem after less than two hours, and that there was no indication its system had been hacked.
In July, hundreds of United Airlines flights were delayed after the airline experienced computer problems for the second time in just over a month.
A United representative said at the time that the glitch was caused by an internal technology issue, not by an outside threat or hack.