Southwest Airlines flights resume after technical issue

Byby Leslie Brinkley KGO logo

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Southwest flights resume after technical issue

Southwest Airlines planes are flying again after a technical glitch disrupted their system and grounded a lot of flights nationwide Wednesday.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Southwest Airlines planes are flying again after a technical glitch disrupted their system and grounded a lot of flights nationwide Wednesday.

Even though the technical issue lasted at least two hours, travelers can still expect delays as Southwest recovers from the systemwide technical problem.

Things are improving at Bay Area airports after the computer glitch.

At San Jose Mineta International Airport, all outbound flights were grounded starting around 12:30 p.m. It was the same at the Oakland International Airport, where kiosks malfunctioned and there was no way to print a boarding pass or check a bag. The line at the curb was as long as the terminal was with at least 100 people. "They told us the systems were down, check in early," passenger Audrey Liggins said.

It was a tough two-hour wait for a mom traveling with five kids and 10 bags. At 2:00 p.m., the Southwest computers started working again, but that didn't diminish the lines and the delayed flights. Many of them were delayed by at least two hours.

Below are two images that show how many Southwest flights were in the air Tuesday and today at the time the outage occurred.