SWA Major Outage and Service Disruption July 20, 2016 (was: Systemwide Groundstop)
Jul 20, 2016, 9:54 pm
#62
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,624
That promise doesn't mean a lot if the fare you want is a competitive match hot deal rather than an ordinary sale lame deal.
Jul 20, 2016, 10:10 pm
#64
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,286
Inbound plane arrived, but didn't come to my gate. Hmmm. Flight Aware still said "delayed." No ops agent anywhere near, despite fact that we should be boarding soon. Found an ops agent at a different gate, waited 15 minutes to ask about flight and was told that it was cancelled. 
Lines for gate agents now 60-70 people long. Still announcing over PA that the systems are mostly down and they can't rebook anyone. No bags will be recovered, they'll allegedly fly on to destination on first available flight tomorrow.
Website down, phone line 45+ minute hold only to be told they can't rebook anyone either.
Home. Guess I'll try early tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is gonna suck.
Lines for gate agents now 60-70 people long. Still announcing over PA that the systems are mostly down and they can't rebook anyone. No bags will be recovered, they'll allegedly fly on to destination on first available flight tomorrow.
Website down, phone line 45+ minute hold only to be told they can't rebook anyone either.
Home. Guess I'll try early tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is gonna suck.
Jul 20, 2016, 10:12 pm
#65
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: MCI
Programs: CBP Global Entry, WN A-List Preferred, WN Companion Pass
Posts: 2,007
Inbound plane arrived, but didn't come to my gate. Hmmm. Flight Aware still said "delayed." No ops agent anywhere near, despite fact that we should be boarding soon. Found an ops agent at a different gate, waited 15 minutes to ask about flight and was told that it was cancelled.
Lines for gate agents now 60-70 people long. Still announcing over PA that the systems are mostly down and they can't rebook anyone.
Website down, phone line 45+ minute hold only to be told they can't rebook anyone either.
Home. Guess I'll try early tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is gonna suck.
Lines for gate agents now 60-70 people long. Still announcing over PA that the systems are mostly down and they can't rebook anyone.
Website down, phone line 45+ minute hold only to be told they can't rebook anyone either.
Home. Guess I'll try early tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is gonna suck.
Jul 20, 2016, 10:28 pm
#67
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Sarasota, FL (SRQ)
Programs: WN A-List, AA EXP, Hyatt Top Tier (definitely NOT a Globalist), National Exec Elite
Posts: 491
...and all my flights for the next couple weeks are going to United.
Also, I hate United.
But I fear WN systemwide IT failure more
Also, I hate United.
But I fear WN systemwide IT failure more
Jul 20, 2016, 10:34 pm
#68
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: SAN
Programs: UA-1K, AA-Gold, HH-Gold, MR - Gold, HY-Explorist
Posts: 222
Thanks all for the info. Ended up rebooking her on AA through Phoenix. Original flight did end up going out for BWI-SAN a little over 2 hours late according to flightaware. Any thoughts on getting a refund for the abandoned ticket? Told her not to call today as I am sure the phone lines were jammed and since phone agents didn't have computer access either, they probably couldn't process the refund anyway. I would think that they would be pretty flexible on this front given the situation, but I was assuming the flight was going to be cancelled, which shockingly ended up not being the case it appears. Any experiences yet on this?
Jul 20, 2016, 10:34 pm
#69
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,331
Random sampling of flights currently airborne shows many, many flights operating 4-6 hours behind schedule. Some west coast stuff not scheduled to arrive until 2.30am or later.
Days like this (which keep happening over and over) actually make me feel sad for the front-line employees, who really do try very hard - but they are hamstrung by a totally inept, inexcusably lame back office operation.
Clearly WN management has made the weak decision over and over to keep kicking the can down the road on their IT problems. Over and over these fiascos happen. Sad state of affairs.
Days like this (which keep happening over and over) actually make me feel sad for the front-line employees, who really do try very hard - but they are hamstrung by a totally inept, inexcusably lame back office operation.
Clearly WN management has made the weak decision over and over to keep kicking the can down the road on their IT problems. Over and over these fiascos happen. Sad state of affairs.
Jul 20, 2016, 10:42 pm
#70
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: SFO
Posts: 3,881
Website appears to be fully functional now.
Earlier today, I was able to check in via the app (after 30 mins). I received position A31. My two kids are also traveling with me, same itinerary booked at the same time. The app does not allow check-in of other passengers on the same "trip". I thought my kids would be checked in when I did but they weren't. I just checked them in, and my son who I checked in first received A59 and my daughter who I checked in next received A17. Is this due to the technical problems?
Also, I have pre but that didn't populate to their boarding pass...is this also due to the technical problems?
Thanks.
Earlier today, I was able to check in via the app (after 30 mins). I received position A31. My two kids are also traveling with me, same itinerary booked at the same time. The app does not allow check-in of other passengers on the same "trip". I thought my kids would be checked in when I did but they weren't. I just checked them in, and my son who I checked in first received A59 and my daughter who I checked in next received A17. Is this due to the technical problems?
Also, I have pre but that didn't populate to their boarding pass...is this also due to the technical problems?
Thanks.
Jul 20, 2016, 10:43 pm
#71
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 37
Stuck in Oakland
Have been stuck in Oakland for over 3 hours. Gate agent told me that some pilots ran out of hours to fly and they are looking for more pilots. Plane was supposed to be in NOLA at 0105 but not sure if we even leave tonight. Hope something works out.
Jul 20, 2016, 10:47 pm
#72
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 1
Right now my wife and daughter just had their flight cancelled in San Jose airport on flight 2625 to Orange County. Gate agent offered two options fly to LAX or LAS. Then walk home. No hotel voucher nothing - no confirmed flight tomorrow home for them. I thought Southwest puts the customer first especially frequent flyers. confirm # 95XXXX & 9VXXXX.
Last edited by ftnoob; Jul 21, 2016 at 12:38 am
Jul 20, 2016, 10:49 pm
#73
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,331
Thanks all for the info. Ended up rebooking her on AA through Phoenix. Original flight did end up going out for BWI-SAN a little over 2 hours late according to flightaware. Any thoughts on getting a refund for the abandoned ticket? Told her not to call today as I am sure the phone lines were jammed and since phone agents didn't have computer access either, they probably couldn't process the refund anyway. I would think that they would be pretty flexible on this front given the situation, but I was assuming the flight was going to be cancelled, which shockingly ended up not being the case it appears. Any experiences yet on this?
Don't call them tonight, or tomorrow. Maybe a day after this settles out.
Jul 20, 2016, 10:49 pm
#74
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: YVR, HNL
Programs: AS 75k, UA peon, BA Bronze, AC E50k, Marriott Plat, HH Diamond, Fairmont Plat (RIP)
Posts: 7,832
Right now my wife and daughter just had their flight cancelled in San Jose airport on flight 2625 to Orange County. Gate agent offered two options fly to LAX or LAS. Then walk home. No hotel voucher nothing - no confirmed flight tomorrow home for them. I thought Southwest puts the customer first especially frequent flyers. confirm # 95XXXX & 9VXXXX.
And you should remove your personal information. I've alerted a moderator to do so.
Last edited by ftnoob; Jul 21, 2016 at 1:38 am
Jul 20, 2016, 10:52 pm
#75
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,331
Seriously though, will MSY be open at 4 AM or whenever?