Hundreds Of Southwest Flights Canceled After Computer Glitch
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It has been a rough morning for Southwest Airlines travelers, dealing with long lines at Midway International Airport, a day after a computer glitch led to hundreds of canceled flights nationwide.
The computer outage for Southwest began around 2 p.m. Wednesday, forcing employees to check in passengers manually. For a few hours, Southwest customers could not buy tickets on the company website, or check in for their flights online.
Thursday morning, an airline spokeswoman said most systems had been restored. Nearly 700 flights were canceled nationwide on Wednesday due to the glitch, and hundreds more were delayed. As of 10:15 a.m. Thursday, another 300 flights had been canceled nationwide.
Midway is a major hub for Southwest, which operates more than 3,900 flights nationwide on weekdays.
With so many flights canceled since Wednesday afternoon, lines at Southwest ticket counters at Midway were extremely long Thursday morning, with thousands of travelers trying to find new flights. Southwest employees were handing out peanuts, pretzels and water to frustrated travelers.
"We're just hoping for the best. We're hoping for the 8:35 a.m. flight," said Elizabeth Drennan, who was planning to fly to Phoenix. "If we don't get on that flight, the next flight out of here is not a non-stop, and it doesn't get us in until like 7 p.m. tonight. … We're only going for the weekend, so that kind of takes a whole day out of our trip."
Southwest was warning customers to arrive at the airport early, due to the long lines.
One airline employee at Midway said he had never seen lines so long due to a technical problem.
