Major airline's flights grounded nationwide leaving livid passengers stuck
Passengers planning to fly with Southwest Airlines have been grounded nationwide, due to a 'computer glitch'.
Passengers have taken to social media to voice their frustration, as many wondered how lengthy their wait to fly will be. Many were also asking for advice as to what's going on.
Southwest Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed by late morning East Coast time, that the pause on flights had been lifted.
In a statement the Dallas airline said: "Southwest has resumed operations after temporarily pausing flight activity this morning to work through data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure.
"Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost. Southwest Teams worked quickly to minimize flight disruptions.
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KXAN morning anchor Tom Miller tweeted this pic from inside a plane at Austin Airport (TomMillerKXAN/Twitter)"We ask that travelers use Southwest.com to check flight status or visit a Southwest Airlines Customer Service Agent at the airport for assistance with travel needs. We appreciate the patience of our Customers and Employees during this morning’s brief disruption."
Southwest Airlines also took to Twitter to address the issue which saw more than 1,500 flights delayed on Tuesday, April 18.
Responding to a user asking what was happening, they tweeted: "As a result of the intermittent technology issues that we experienced, we should hopefully be resuming our operation as soon as possible.
"We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we're hoping to get everyone going ASAP."
TV meteorologist Kristen Currie tweeted this picture and wrote that she was sitting at the gate at Nashville - delayed by well over an hour now (KristenCurrieTV/Twitter)Shawn, a passenger, was due to fly with Southwest Airlines, however found himself stuck on the tarmac in Nashville. He said they had been "sitting engines off for about 30 min so far!"
He told The Mirror: "Everyone is pretty upset. Sounds like we are getting off the plane finally to wait in the airport. The captain has not given any info on the situation."
Cathy Podell found herself stuck in Houston. She told the Mirror she "made it to Chicago safely", but had just 15 minutes to make a connecting flight.
She explained she "spent [an] extra two hours on the plane."
Decribing the atmosphere she said: "People were restless but patient. [There were a] couple of cranky babies."
She explained how there were "no drinks" and "broken wifi" on board, and passengers were offered "nothing but apologies." She said "SW [Southwest Airlines] you can do better".
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By late morning on the East Coast, Southwest accounted for more than half of all delays nationwide - however, the airline had only cancelled fewer than a dozen flights according to FlightAware.
Nashville as Southwest Airlines went down nationwide (Supplied)
Meteorologist Kristen Currie shared her experience of the grounding (Twitter/KristenCurrieTV)One user took to Twitter to say they were "stuck in LAS and no one's talking".
The airline told ABC that "operations are paused", with a huge total of 795 flights delayed as of 10.30am ET (2.30pm GMT)
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement: "Southwest Airlines requested the FAA pause the airline's departures. Please contact Southwest Airlines for more."
Another user took to Reddit, hoping to get more information, saying: "Currently sitting at the airport in Denver, waiting to board a flight that should have already departed.
"We are being told there is a system wide issue and nationwide full ground stop?!?!? Anyone know what's going on?"
Meteorologist Kirsten Currie took to Twitter to share her experience "sitting at the gate in Nashville".
Meteorologist Kirsten Currie took to Twitter to share her experienceShe said passengers were told of the system-wide ground stop for all flights after the "plane was 30 plus" minutes late for 'maintenance'.
She said she's now looking at more than an hour's delay, saying to the airline: "Come on, y'all."
One Twitter user has reportedly been stuck in St Louis for "1.5 hours now". They said: "We get an update every 30 minutes that says we will update you in another 30 minutes... unreal".
People have not held back in discussing the situation online with one person calling the airline "terrible", and another calling it "unreliable".
It's not the first time Southwest Airlines has faced IT issues. The airline faced a near meltdown over the Christmas holiday period in 2022, cancelling more than 15,000 flights over a seven-day period.
Winter weather began to disrupt air travel on December 22, 2022, causing issues for multiple airlines. Southwest ended up cancelling more flights than other airlines such as Delta, American Airlines and United Airlines.
Some passengers attempting to fly with Southwest Airlines today, April 18, are stuck on board planes sitting on the tarmac.
One Twitter user said: "They knew about the computer issue so why board all these planes just to make us sit here?! Currently on the tarmac in SD".
Another user tweeted directly at Southwest Airlines saying: "Sitting on the tarmac in Chicago for almost an hour in a fully packed plane because of computer provlems is exactly the way to start off a vacation.
"Get some new IT people or something. This is ridiculous."
Users took to Twitter to share their frustrations at Southwest Airlines (Twitter/dontstopx2)In response, Southwest Airlines replied: "We're so sorry for the frustration this delay has caused. We are working hard to get you on your way."
KXAN morning anchor Tom Miller tweeted a video from inside a grounded plane at Austin Airport in Texas. He said: "Currently stuck on a @SouthwestAir plane at @AUStinAirport...Southwest told AUS just before 9 am about system-wide technology malfunction. Southwest did not give a reason. Southwest Airlines tells AUS it is delaying flights in and out of AUS."
Many Twitter users have taken to contacting the airline directly on the platform to voice their disappointment.
One wrote: "@SouthwestAir I think it's time to replace your technology leadership team.
"This is the second biggest outage y'all have had in under 12 months. I'm sure this is costing you billions every hour your planes are grounded not to mention unhappy customers and compensations.
Southwest Airlines flights have been grounded (AFP via Getty Images)"@SouthwestAir please do your remaining loyal customers a favor and take the initiative and replace the folks at the top responsible for nor maintaining a system that doesn't have proper SLA to meet 99.99% uptime standards."
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) in Texas said in a statement: "Southwest has informed us their ground stop has been lifted and flights will resume soon.
"We still recommend checking your flight status before heading out to AUS."
However, a tweet from Southwest Airlines to a disgruntled passenger said: "As of now (3.51pm GMT), we do not have a time frame for when this will be resolved."
And one customer tweeted: "The flight deck told us it will take up to 6 hours. All planes that landed like ours have no gate to go to because the planes at the gate can’t move."
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an update on Twitter saying: "@SouthwestAir requested that the FAA pause the airline's departures due to an internal technical issue at Southwest.
"The pause has been fully canceled."
We'll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.
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