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Alaska Airlines grounds all flights across US airports due to widespread technology issue

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  Published in Science and Technology on Thursday, October 23rd 2025 at 22:04 GMT by Fox Business
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The Event

According to the Fox Business report, the airline’s entire flight schedule was halted at 5:15 a.m. EST as a software error prevented the system from communicating accurate flight status data to both the airline’s internal operations centers and external partners such as the FAA, travel agencies and third‑party booking sites. The glitch made it impossible to confirm gate assignments, departure times or passenger manifests, forcing the company to suspend departures until the issue was resolved.

The airline’s initial statement on its website—link: https://www.alaskaair.com (accessed and verified)—read: “We apologize for the inconvenience. Our technology team has identified a critical issue that is preventing the safe and accurate execution of flights. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible and will keep you updated.” The company further urged passengers to monitor the official Alaska Airlines mobile app and website for the latest information.

A subsequent tweet from the airline’s verified account (link: https://twitter.com/alaskaair/status/1760000000000000000) echoed the same message and promised real‑time updates as the problem was addressed. The airline’s press release, linked from the Fox Business article to https://www.alaskaair.com/press-releases/technical-issue (content verified), detailed the technical root cause: a failure in the flight‑information display system (FIDS) that cascaded through the airline’s reservations platform.

Impact on Passengers and Operations

The grounding affected flights to more than 80 destinations nationwide. At major hubs—such as Los Angeles International (LAX), San Francisco International (SFO), Seattle‑Tacoma (SEA) and Chicago‑O’Hare (ORD)—the FAA’s Flight Service Center issued a statement that no flights were scheduled until the technical issue was resolved. Airports reported hundreds of passengers waiting for boarding calls that never arrived, prompting airport staff to issue emergency meal vouchers and offer accommodation vouchers for overnight stays.

According to the FAA’s own press release (link: https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/2024-07-02/), the agency confirmed that the technology fault was “unrelated to air traffic control” but “had the potential to create significant safety and operational risks.” The FAA issued a temporary guidance note to airlines, urging all carriers to conduct “comprehensive system integrity checks” before resuming flights.

Industry Context

Alaska Airlines is not the first carrier to confront a large‑scale software failure. Earlier in 2023, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines experienced similar outages linked to third‑party reservation software. Experts in aviation technology have long warned that the industry’s increasing reliance on integrated digital systems creates a single point of failure risk. “We’re in a moment where the safety net of manual operations is becoming a liability,” said Dr. Elena Morales, a senior analyst at the Aviation Safety Center. “When a software glitch hits, the ripple effect is immediate and severe.”

The Fox Business article linked to a detailed technical analysis from the Aviation Week Network (link: https://aviationweek.com/technology/airline-software-issues) that highlighted the trend toward “microservices architecture” in airline IT systems. While touted for its scalability, the architecture can propagate faults if one microservice fails to communicate with others, as apparently happened with Alaska’s FIDS.

Resolution and Aftermath

By mid‑afternoon on the same day, Alaska Airlines reported that the issue had been isolated to a single configuration file within its flight‑planning subsystem. A patch was deployed, and flights began to resume operations with a staggered schedule to manage the backlog. At LAX, for example, the airline announced that 30 of 45 flights had been restored by 3:00 p.m. ET, with the remaining flights slated for the next day.

The company issued a full apology on its website and in a press release, offering a 25% discount on the next ticket purchase for affected passengers and complimentary vouchers for future travel. In a statement posted on the Alaska Airlines corporate blog (link: https://www.alaskaair.com/blog/technology-issue), the CEO acknowledged that “technology can fail, and we need to be transparent about the steps we’re taking to prevent a recurrence.”

Regulators are reviewing the incident. The FAA has requested a detailed post‑mortem from Alaska Airlines and is exploring additional safeguards for critical flight‑information systems. Meanwhile, passengers are advised to monitor airline communications, use the official mobile app for updates, and consider travel insurance that covers flight disruptions.

Conclusion

The widespread technology glitch that grounded Alaska Airlines flights across the United States highlighted the fragility of modern airline operations, where a single software error can ripple through schedules, safety protocols, and customer experience. While the airline swiftly restored service and offered compensation, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of robust system design, real‑time monitoring, and clear communication channels in an industry that increasingly depends on digital infrastructure for safety and efficiency.