Southwest Airlines issued an apology today after passengers in the Southland and at airports across the nation were forced to deal with extensive delays and cancellations caused by a computer failure.
Southwest “began experiencing intermittent performance issues” Wednesday afternoon, which prompted a temporary halt to all flights that had not yet left the gate, according to the airline. The ground stop was lifted around 1 p.m., but delays continued throughout the day.
In a statement released this morning, Southwest spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said more than 221 flights had been canceled.
“I want to start off by once again apologizing to our customers and reiterating that your experience throughout the past 24 hours is not the service you should expect from Southwest Airlines,” Rutherford said. “Most of our systems are back online this morning following yesterday’s technology outages, but recovery will take some time.”
Rutherford said additional cancellations and delays would be possible as the airline positioned its aircraft and crews.
At Los Angeles International Airport shortly before 7 a.m. today, two arriving Southwest flights were listed as delayed, but two others arrived on time, according to the airport website. One departing flight was on time, but one departing flight was canceled. No Southwest delays or cancellations were reported at Long Beach Airport or at Bob Hope Airport, but several Southwest flights were listed as canceled at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport.
“Thank you for hanging in there with us,” Rutherford said. “We will have more information later regarding flexible rebooking, and we will continue to work with each and every affected customer to make this right.”
