It is not a good experience for a traveler to be in the middle of a technical airline failure. This widespread IT failure can leave hundreds of passengers trapped on planes and in terminals. flights are canceled The airline industry comes to a screeching stop.
There are more IT system outages for airlines. As airline operations and pricing become more complex, IT failures in the airline industry occur with greater frequency and technical severity. Travelers UnitedA consumer advocacy group. “The complex airlines systems [are] As mergers have reduced airline competition in recent years, airlines are now a “mash-up of pieces and parts from different airlines.”
In recent years, multiple airlines including American, Delta Southwest, United and British Airways have experienced IT system failures. The worst of all was caused by a CrowdStrike issue in 2024This led to thousands of flights being canceled around the globe. Alaska Airlines suffered “a significant IT failure” on July 20th, 2025. This resulted in an entire system-wide grounding of flights by Alaska and Horizon Air. The airline reported that a critical piece of redundant hardware in its data centers was unexpectedly damaged by a third party. statement. “When that occurred, it impacted many of our systems that allow us to run different operations. This required the implementation a ground-stop to keep aircraft positioned.”
The following is a list of the most popular ways to contact us flight safety Alaska’s outage caused more than 150 flights to be cancelled. As we reposition crews and aircraft across our network, additional flight disruptions may occur,” said the airline on Monday, 21 July. The airline is providing a flexible travel policy For fliers wishing to cancel, change or postpone their flights through July 23.
These types of technical failures often affect key flight operations systems, such as the crew management software. These systems have to take into account “so many factors, such as the passage of time and the individual flight crew with their rules governing work hours, routes and aircrafts, and the location of all these people and airplanes at that particular moment,” says Mike Arnot. An airline expert and founder, he founded the aviation communication firm. Juliett Alpha. “However, when planes and personnel are so far out of place, it is necessary to cancel a large number of flights to reset. It is only necessary to take drastic actions to reset the whole operation, and to get planes and personnel in position for a new start.
A similar IT outage can cause an airline to take several days to recover. Here’s what to know if you get caught in the middle of one—and how to receive compensation for significant delays and cancellations.
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In an airline IT meltdown it’s not surprising that representatives are quickly overwhelmed. Gary Leff says that the most difficult part of getting help in a major airline incident is finding someone to talk to. a travel advisor Author of Aviation Blog View From the Wing. “The phone lines are too busy.” Too many customers will cause the app and website to crash.
