JetBlue Plagued by Systemwide Outage, Delays & Cancellations Abound at Major Airports

Computer issues plaguing JetBlue’s system resulted in thousands of passengers being delayed at major airports across the U.S. 

JetBlue flyers were greeted by long lines at airports across the U.S. this morning as the low-cost airline scrambled to get passengers to their destinations in the face of major technical difficulties. USA Today reports the “systemwide IT outage” took place in the early hours of Monday, resulting in major backups during morning departures.

Affected flyers took to Twitter to report the issues with JetBlue’s systems, and the airline confirmed that IT problems plaguing check-in kiosks brought things to a halt. While the systems are now online, the airline says that recovery could still delay and cancel flights throughout the day.

“The issue was resolved at approximately 6:15 a.m. ET, and systems are back online,” a JetBlue representative told USA Today. “We are working to resume normal operations now, but customers may experience some delays throughout the day.”

While the airline representative said that some operations were continuing to move, encumbered passengers complained about the lack of communication amid the chaos.

“It would be nice if they people had instructing us what to do,” Neil Mazer told WABC-TV. Mazer was attempting to board a JetBlue flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) when the outages affected his travel plans. “No one knows what line goes where.”

WABC-TV reports that as a result of the computer crash, gate agents were forced to check passengers in by hand and physically write out boarding passes. One Twitter user reported holding a hand-written ticket from gate agents prior to boarding his flight.

From an IT professional (with a handwritten boarding pass) to all IT professionals at @JetBlue: condolences, and good luck.

— Jason Alonso (@jbalonso) March 30, 2015

According to FlightStats.com, Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) was heavily impacted by the computer crash, with one cancellation and upwards of 50 delayed flights at the time of reporting. Across New York’s three major airports, over 70 flights were delayed Monday morning.

JetBlue has cautioned passengers that while the computers are back up and running, the morning delays could create a ripple effect of problems throughout the day. The airline is encouraging travelers to check for the latest updates on the JetBlue website.

[Photo: JetBlue Airways]