Alaska Airlines: Ground stop lifted, all flights resume

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- An hours-long IT issue that grounded Alaska Airlines flights nationwide Sunday night was lifted at 11 p.m. PT, the airline said in a statement.

"At approximately 8 p.m. Pacific on July 20, we experienced an IT outage that resulted in a temporary, system-wide ground stop for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights. As of 11 p.m. Pacific, the ground stop has been lifted, and our operations have resumed," airline officials said. "As we reposition our aircraft and crews, there will most likely be residual impacts to our flights. It will take some time to get our overall operations back to normal."

They cautioned travelers to check the status of their flight well before they arrive at the airport.

Just after the IT outage arose around 8 p.m., Alaska Airlines posted on their website they "are experiencing issues with our IT systems," and the airline requested a nationwide ground stop for all its mainline aircraft on Sunday.

The FAA’s website showed the order affected all destinations served by Alaska Airlines’ mainline fleet.

Passengers at PDX

There were plenty of people at Portland International Airportwho were affected by the grounding. Some rented cars, others told KOIN 6 News they're booking a flight with another airline.

Some passengers said they were told to keep their receipts for hotels and cars to be reimbursed, while others were told to go to the ticket counter. Many were told they would be rebooked for a Monday flight, but many questioned that would happen.

Alaksa Airline passenger Jaclyn Martin, who was on her plane for an hour before having to de-plane, told KOIN 6 News her "confidence is a bit shaken. I don't fly a lot. So, you know, I guess we'll see what happens."

Another passenger, Ben DeCarlow, said the Alaska officials "were very apologetic, that they said that they were still trying to figure it out, too. They just saw a network system error, and they couldn't figure out any more than we could. So they said, maybe try to the 1-800 number and see if that helps. And it was a 2.5 hour wait time for that."

Lance, who was traveling from Texas to Seattle, said "it was pretty frustrating, I'm not going to lie" when he was told all the flights were going to resume. He told KOIN 6 News he hopes to get rebooked quickly because he doesn't have the money for a rental car or a rideshare "so I can get back to work in Seattle soon."