Alaska Airlines Recovers from Latest IT Outage After Three-Hour Flight Grounding
Alaska Airlines announced it was “actively restoring operations” around 7 p.m. Thursday evening after an IT outage forced the carrier to ground flights across the United States for approximately three hours. This marks the second major technological disruption for the Seattle-based airline in just three months, following a similar three-hour outage in July that also resulted in grounded flights. While the airline has begun resuming flights, many passengers continue to face significant delays as they wait for inbound aircraft at airports across the country.
During the outage, travelers took to social media platforms like Reddit to share their experiences, with many reporting planes sitting idle on tarmacs or passengers being asked to deplane entirely. The disruption extended beyond flight operations, as customers also encountered problems accessing Alaska’s mobile app and website, cutting them off from vital flight information during the crisis. The airline initially announced the issue through its Twitter account, stating: “Alaska Airlines is experiencing an IT outage affecting operations. A temporary ground stop is in place. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you’re scheduled to fly tonight, please check your flight status before heading to the airport.”
The impact of the outage was dramatically illustrated by flight tracking service Flightradar24, which posted data showing approximately 100 fewer Alaska Airlines aircraft in the sky compared to the same time the previous week. Their post noted that while some flights were beginning to depart as systems came back online, the ripple effects would continue to disrupt travel plans well into the night. As of the announcement, the SeaTac, Washington-based carrier had not disclosed the specific cause of the IT failure, leaving questions about the airline’s technological infrastructure unanswered.
This latest incident raises concerns about the resilience of Alaska Airlines’ IT systems, particularly given the recency of their previous outage. When critical airline systems fail, the consequences extend far beyond inconvenience – stranding passengers, disrupting business travel, separating families, and creating logistical nightmares that can take days to fully resolve. For an industry that depends so heavily on technology to coordinate thousands of daily flights across complex networks, such failures highlight the vulnerability of modern air travel to digital disruption.
The pattern of repeated outages may prompt additional scrutiny from both customers and regulators. Airlines have increasingly relied on sophisticated IT systems to manage everything from bookings and check-ins to flight operations and maintenance scheduling. When these systems fail, the domino effect can quickly cascade throughout an airline’s entire operation. For Alaska Airlines, which has built its reputation on reliability and customer service, addressing the root causes of these recurring IT issues will likely become a priority to maintain consumer confidence and competitive standing in the industry.
As operations slowly return to normal, the focus will shift to understanding what went wrong and how similar incidents can be prevented in the future. For the thousands of travelers whose plans were disrupted, the airline’s response in terms of rebooking assistance, compensation, and communication will be closely watched. While technological failures can happen to any organization, how Alaska Airlines addresses this recurring problem – and whether they can prevent a third similar incident – may well determine how this chapter in the carrier’s history is ultimately remembered by the flying public who depend on their services.
