Most said they were unable to check into flights and others weren’t able to make flight reservations online.
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The technical issues led to the cancellation of almost 700 flights and the delay of hundreds, the airline said in a statement Wednesday.
The airline reported one delayed flight at that airport Thursday morning. Customers should expect cancellations and delays as the airline positions aircraft and crews. The airline does intend to compensate customers in some way, and they have extended their fare sale due to the website difficulties, said Van de Ven.
The airline said Thursday morning that most of its systems were back online.
The trouble began when Southwest suffered an hour-long “system outage” Wednesday night, which led to a nationwide ground stop for all of their flights.
Southwest Airlines passengers scrambled to reschedule flights after several were canceled Wednesday because of technical glitches.
Twelve Southwest flights were canceled and 11 flights delayed at the San Jose airport Wednesday, Barnes said.
In a statement released this morning, Southwest spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said more than 221 flights had been canceled. Southwest apologized to angry passengers who hammered the airline on Twitter.
Customers booked on Thursday flights have been advised to arrive at the airport early to give extra time for check-in.
However, a number of travelers remained at the airport whose flights had been canceled.
The airline briefly held planes at their gates, however, even after flights started moving again, delays piled up over the next several hours. “So we just made it here with the family as fast as we could to see what we could do about it”.
“The first priority is to get the operation back up and running and serve the customers right now that need to get where they want to go”, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said Thursday during the company’s earnings call.
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“Thank you for your patience today as we recover from yesterday’s technology outage”. Flexible rebooking accommodation will be available to Customers once our systems are fully functional.
