Southwest Airlines flights canceled, delayed due to computer issue in Baltimore

David Oliver
Updated

A four-hour Southwest Airlines computer glitch on Tuesday caused delays and cancellations for passengers traveling to and from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The exact number of delayed and canceled flights isn't clear, though 37 Southwest flights were canceled leaving the airport Tuesday out of 174 scheduled. It's also not yet clear what caused the four-hour glitch between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. EST.

BWI tweeted later Tuesday afternoon once everything went back to normal. "UPDATE: @SouthwestAir has resumed regular operations here at BWI Marshall," it wrote. "The airline is working to accommodate its passengers."

Customers had been taking to social media to express their travel frustrations, and both BWI and Southwest responded in turn − including to correct misinformation.

"@SouthwestAir please tell the truth," Twitter user Jimmy Lichtenstein wrote. "What happens at BWI to cause me to sit at BNA for 3 hours."

"Been trying to get to Baltimore for over 6 hours now," another tweeted. Thanks @Southwest for cancelling my flight, routing me thru Chicago, then delaying my flight back to BWI indefinitely. BTW, my original departure was from MANCHESTER, NH - an hour flight. I SHOULD'VE DROVE BACK TO DC! "

"There is no power outage here," BWI told one customer. "Southwest advised a few minutes ago of an issue with their computer network."

Not all travelers were upset, however. "Impressed by the professionalism and courtesy of staff ⁦@TSA⁩ today ⁦@BWI_Airport," Twitter user Eric Goldberg wrote⁩. "In other news, my flight to ⁦@IFlyOAKland⁩ is delayed because ⁦@SouthwestAir⁩'s computers are down."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Southwest Airlines flights canceled, delayed due to computer issue in Baltimore