LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Southwest Airlines experienced travel troubles once again early Tuesday morning. The company temporarily grounded its entire network because of "equipment issues."
Nationwide, cancellations have been at a minimum, but according to FlightAware, as of 7 p.m., 2,363 Southwest flights had been delayed nationwide.
"We get on, we're in our seats, we're cozy and they say, after about maybe 45 minutes, we're going to deplane,” said Keli Lewis, who was flying into Las Vegas from Atlanta. "Tell us if we're not going to be able to get on or whatever is going on, it's fine if we know."
The airline requested that the Federal Aviation Administration call a nationwide ground stop of all of its flights because of the tech issues.
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"The problem is, when you shut everything down, you have a ripple effect,” said Reed Yadon, an aviation expert.
For months, the airline has been dealing with similar problems. In December, a strong winter storm combined with outdated systems resulted in Southwest canceling thousands of flights between Christmas and the new year.
"The software fix won't occur overnight, it's a matter of upgrading a whole lot of infrastructure,” Yadon said.
"It was just frustrating. We love Southwest but you know, they just need to get it together,” said another traveler.
The ground stop was lifted in about an hour.
In a statement, a representative for Southwest Airlines told Channel 13, "Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost. Southwest teams worked quickly to minimize flight disruptions."
