Computer fails, cancels 140 Alaska Air flights

An Alaska Airlines computer system failed early Saturday, causing a cascade of flight cancellations and delays nationwide, including in Alaska, the company said.
The cancellations and delays for Alaska Airlines its Horizon Air affiliate affected about 11,700 passengers, with 140 flights canceled, the company said.
Alaska said some flights were delayed as much as two hours and further cancellations were possible.
Technicians were installing a back-up power system for computers used to prepare vital flight information, the airline said. A transformer malfunctioned, and the system went offline at about 3 a.m., the airline said.
Outages came and went for about seven hours. Alaska and Horizon scrapped about 15 percent of their combined schedule before technicians fixed the system, which returned at 9 a.m. Alaska time.
Of the 10 flights cancelled in the state of Alaska, five were scheduled to depart from Anchorage. The airline cancelled two flights from Juneau and one flight each from Fairbanks, Kodiak and Bethel, according to company spokesman Paul McElroy.
Flights out of Seattle, where Alaska Airlines is based, were hit the hardest, with 58 canceled there. The problem coincided with the start of spring break for many schools in the Seattle area.
"We have delays and cancellations from day to day, but for an event of this magnitude, it's very unusual," McElroy said. "The computer system provided flight plans and other crucial information we need for flying, so when that went down, we're at a standstill."
McElroy said customers had trouble getting flight-status updates on the airlines' website because of the outage.
"We're working to get our operation back to normal as quickly as possible and are very sorry for the inconvenience to our customers," Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden said in a statement apologizing to passengers. "We are doing all we can to book them on other flights."
The problems ripped through the system, with delays still affecting Alaska passengers Saturday afternoon. About 20 passengers expecting to depart from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport stood in line at the Alaska Airlines customer service counter about 1:30 p.m. Many of them were just learning about the delays.
Lesa Chircop and Tess, her fluffy Pomeranian, were among those waiting.
Chircop said she'd received an email from Alaska Airlines that said her flight from Seattle to Sacramento was cancelled. Her flight out of Anchorage hadn't been reported as delayed or cancelled, she said.
"I'm trying to confirm that with an actual body," Chircop said.
Alaska Airlines' McElroy said stranded passengers were rebooked on later planes or put on other airlines and Alaska will consider adding flights. Passengers will not be charged a flight-change fee, he said.
Juneau passenger Willow Olson's connecting flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks was one of those cancelled. Olson said she missed seeing a family friend's 2 p.m. funeral in the because of the fiasco.
"We wanted to show them that we cared in their time of great loss, that we wanted to be there for them, and that was just unable to happen," Olson said. "It's bad, and I'm disappointed."
Alaska Airlines reimbursed Olson's credit card for the cost of the ticket, she said.
McElroy urged customers to call 1-800-ALASKA-AIR before leaving for their flights. Agents on the phone are likely to have more updated information than the website, www.alaskaair.com, which was also affected by the outage, he said.
The company reported long hold times for customers calling for information, but McElroy said those lines had cleared by evening.
Alaska Airlines encouraged its passengers to contact its Customer Care team online.
"Rest assured, we're going to make it right for our customers," McElroy said. "Depending on the length of the delay or the cancellation of their flight, that will have a bearing on what we do for them."
Seattle-based Alaska Airlines flies to cities in the U.S., focusing on the West Coast, and to Canada and Mexico. Alaska and Horizon are owned by Alaska Air Group Inc.