Southwest Airlines technical snafu spills into second day

Technical issues that virtually shut down Southwest Airlines operations Wednesday spilled over into Thursday as company officials said more than 220 flights were already canceled for the day by 4:30 a.m. While most of the air carrier’s systems were back online Thursday morning, company officials continued to manage flight disruptions popping up across their operations and to work through a backlog of canceled or delayed flights. “We are focused on getting customers and their luggage safely to their travel destinations and apologize to our customers whose travel plans are impacted,” airline officials said in a statement. Thousands of customers from across the country subsequently took to social media to complain of delayed flight departures and arrivals, and the inability to check in for flights using Southwest’s website. Customers also reported crowded airports due to not being able to check in for flights or print out boarding passes at airport kiosks. Airline employees worked around the issues by utilizing back-up procedures and performing actions manually, officials said, in an effort to get as many customers and checked pieces luggage possible to their intended destinations.