ALASKA Airlines grounded all of its planes across the US, sparking widespread travel chaos.
Passengers complained they were stuck on aircraft for several hours.
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The airline grounded all of its mainline flights on Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
It’s believed an IT issue caused flights to be grounded.
Alaska Airlines first started experiencing the outage at around 11pm ET on Sunday.
“We requested a temporary, system-wide ground stop until the issue is resolved,” Alaska Airlines has said.
The company has apologized to its travelers.
Alaska Airlines travelers documented the chaos that unfolded on social media.
Chris Fabregas, a photographer, revealed he had been stuck on the tarmac for three hours.
He shared a video from inside a plane that showed passengers sitting in darkness.
“After 2.5 hours on the tarmac, Alaska Airlines has issued us emotional support cookies,” he quipped.
After three hours on the tarmac, he said the pilots had just turned on the seat belt signs.
“At this point, I think it’s just to assert dominance,” he said.
Scott Ford, a soccer coach in Seattle, said his plane had been on the tarmac for two hours.
“Alaska Air have had an absolute nightmare here,” he posted on X.
“I’ll expect compensation for this inconvenience.”
X user Chris said passengers that had landed in Los Angeles were unable to disembark their plane – even after more than an hour on the ground.
Footage taken inside Seattle airport showed disgruntled travelers sitting and standing by their gates, waiting for updates.
“Some flights seem to be boarding but it’s quite chaotic,” Anita Kissee, a journalist, wrote on X.
“Feel so bad for Alaska Air staff tonight.”
Passengers in Portland airport, Oregon, were forced to change their travel plans.
Some were told to keep receipts for hotels, as reported by the CBS affiliate KOIN-TV.
Travelers were also told to go to the ticket counter to await further updates.
Ben DeCarlow said staffers in the airport were “very apologetic” as they tried to deal with customers fury.
Others claimed they were told they would be booked onto flights leaving on Monday.
Some travelers received meal vouchers from Alaska Airlines as a result of the disruption.
FAA officials has since canceled the ground stop after the three-hour outage.
Alaska Airlines has a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft and Embraer 175 planes
