For the second time within 24 hours, Southwest Airlines has requested a nationwide grounding of all flights while it attempts to fix “a reservation computer issue.” I guess maybe somebody couldn’t find all of the bridges on a CAPTCHA or something like that, and now it’s all a big mess.
The FAA issued a statement about the ground stop:
Southwest blamed the issue on “intermittent performance issues with our network connectivity.” So, someone didn’t pay the cell bill, got it.
Southwest also stated
“Teams are working quickly to minimize flight disruptions and customer impact. We appreciate our customers’ patience as we work to get them to their destinations.”
...which is, of course, effectively meaningless to people stuck in various airports, but, hey, at least we have air travel at all, right?
Yesterday, 1,500 flights were delayed, though that issue was blamed on another cause by the airline.
Overall, not a great week for Southwest.
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