Southwest Airlines Glitch Causes Cancellations at John Wayne Airport

IRVINE, CA—Southwest Airlines issued an apology today after passengers in the Southland and at airports across the nation were forced to deal with extensive delays and cancellations caused by a computer failure.

Summer travel plans have been derailed for many during this computer outage.

Southwest "began experiencing intermittent performance issues'' Wednesday afternoon, which prompted a temporary halt to all flights that hadnot yet left the gate, according to the airline.

The ground stop was lifted around 1 p.m., but delays continued throughout the day.

In a statement released this morning, Southwest spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said more than 221 flights had been canceled.

"I want to start off by once again apologizing to our customers and reiterating that your experience throughout the past 24 hours is not the service you should expect from Southwest Airlines,'' Rutherford said. "Most of our systems are back online this morning following yesterday's technology outages, but recovery will take some time.''

Rutherford said additional cancellations and delays would be possible as the airline positioned its aircraft and crews.

Several Southwest flights were listed as canceled at Orange County's John Wayne Airport. Starting at 7:35 a.m., flights arriving from Oakland, an 8:05 flight from Sacramento, and 9 o'clock hour flights from Phoenix, San Jose and Chicago, as well as a 10:25 arrival from Phoenix were all cancelled. Several other arrival times into John Wayne Airport were changed according to the airport's website--read here complete list of arrival times today.

Departing flights out of John Wayne Airport were cancelled -- including the 8:05 a.m. flights to Sacramento, Phoenix and Wichita. The 8:40 a.m. flight to Phoenix. The 9:55 flight to Phoenix, the 10:20 a.m. flights to Chicago MDW, Columbus, Kansas City and San Jose. The 10:55 departure to Oakland was also cancelled. Many gate and departure time changes were reported to other locations.

See the John Wayne Airport departure schedule for further updated information.

At Los Angeles International Airport shortly before 7 a.m. today, two arriving Southwest flights were listed as delayed, but two others arrived on time, according to the airport website. One departing flight was on time, but one departing flight was canceled. No Southwest delays or cancellations were reported at Long Beach Airport or at Bob Hope Airport.

The malfunction with Southwest Airlines has wreaked havoc on both summer travel and sports teams trying to get from one side of the country to the other.

A West Covina Pony Baseball team trying to get to the Pinto National Championship in Illinois is hoping for a rescheduling of that match. The team has been trying to leave Los Angeles International Airport since Wednesday according to NBC4 Los Angeles reports. With a first game at 2 p.m. today in Illinois, and flights to Chicago cancelled, the team is facing forfeit.

"Thank you for hanging in there with us,'' Rutherford said. "We will have more information later regarding flexible rebooking, and we will continue to work with each and every affected customer to make this right.''

Have you been affected by the Southwest Airlines Computer Glitch? Let us know!