450 Southwest Airlines flights impacted yesterday due to computer systems, may persist today

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) yesterday (October 11) experienced computer problems that delayed approximately 450 flights (out of 3,600 scheduled flights). The airline is warning the problems could persist today. The airline has issued this statement:

We’re continuing to use back-up systems around the country to check-in Customers arriving at our airports without printed or mobile boarding passes. Intermittent performance issues continue impacting our in-airport Customer Service technology systems and across our online platforms (Southwest.com, Southwest Mobile App and site).

We have teams working around the country to support getting our Customers and their checked luggage to their destinations tonight; other groups are troubleshooting multiple applications to determine the cause of some technical challenges experienced Sunday which, as of 6:30pm CDT, have delayed approximately 450 flights (out of 3600 scheduled on Sunday); other groups are making operational decisions to minimize impacts for those who are checking in for travel tomorrow.

We urge Customers traveling Monday to visit Southwest.com to check-in and print boarding passes before coming to the airport. We also encourage Customers to arrive at least two hours prior to their scheduled departures to help minimize delays. Finally, if checking luggage, visit a self-service kiosk adjacent a ticket counter to print bag tags where applicable and present your luggage and identification to Southwest Employees.

We thank our Employees for their tireless efforts to take care of our Customers, and we appreciate our Customers’ patience as we work towards a solution.