Alaska Airlines said it had grounded all flights across the US on Thursday evening after a tech outage disrupted its operations — the second major IT failure to hit the carrier this year.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the carrier also requested a more than two-hour ground stop for its subsidiary, Horizon Air.
“Alaska Airlines is experiencing an IT outage affecting operations. A temporary ground stop is in place. We apologize for the inconvenience,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement on social media.
The airline advised customers to check their flight status before heading to the airport if they’re scheduled to fly on Thursday night.
At press time, a notice on the airline’s website said it’s offering a “flexible” travel policy for customers who want to change or cancel their flights due to the outage.
It applies to tickets purchased on or before Thursday with original travel dates from Thursday to Friday. Travelers can rebook for new flights between Thursday and Monday.
Alaska Airlines’ primary hub is on the West Coast, and it serves more than 140 destinations across 37 states and 12 countries. Its parent company, Alaska Air Group, employs over 30,000 people.
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Customers took to social media to report issues accessing the airline’s website and mobile app.
“Unfortunately, we are experiencing an error on our system, but our IT team is working to get this resolved as soon as possible,” Alaska Airlines said in response to an X user who said she experienced issues with the airline’s app.
The outage comes just as Alaska Air reported quarterly earnings this week, showing that a previous IT meltdown in July had hurt its results.
In its third-quarter report released Thursday, Alaska Air said higher fuel and non-fuel cost pressure resulting from an IT outage in July forced it to lower its full-year profit outlook.
The carrier reported adjusted earnings of $1.05 per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ average estimate of $1.13 apiece.
Representatives for Alaska Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
