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Southwest Airlines system outage causes long lines at BWI airport

Posted at 5:48 AM, Jul 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-21 08:28:18-04

Southwest Airlines passengers flying out of Baltimore-Washington International Airport Thursday morning can expect long lines following a system outage that grounded hundreds of flights Wednesday.

While the outage has been repaired, the airline had to honor previously canceled flights before boarding passengers booked to travel Thursday, causing a backlog of delays.

RELATED: Southwest suffers technology outage; flights held at gates

Southwest said the outages caused 600 to 700 canceled and delayed flights, with more than 221 flights canceled as of Thursday morning.The airline released a statement apologizing for the disruption and let customers know that most of their systems are back up and running.

I want to start off by once again apologizing to our Customers and reiterating that your experience throughout the past 24 hours is not the service you should expect from Southwest Airlines. Most of our systems are back online this morning following yesterday's technology outages, but recovery will take some time. We expect some cancelations and delays as we position aircraft and crews.

As of 6:30 a.m. CDT, we have canceled more than 221 flights and continue to manage the flight disruptions across our system. Our Employees are the best in the business, and they are working extremely hard to get you and your luggage to your destination. Thank you for hanging in there with us. We will have more information later regarding flexible rebooking, and we will continue to work with each and every affected Customer to make this right.

Customers booked on Thursday flights have been advised to arrive at the airport early to give extra time for check-in. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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