Southwest Airlines, the majority airline in Milwaukee, temporarily grounded all flights on Tuesday due to a computer glitch that resulted in lost operational data. The airline attributed the problem to "data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure." As a result, more than 1,200 flights were delayed and several were canceled while the company worked tirelessly to resolve the issue.
"We have resumed operations after temporarily pausing flight activity this morning," said Southwest spokesperson Sarah Jameson. "We understand how frustrating this is for our customers and are working diligently to ensure they receive adequate refunds for any disruptions caused by these technical issues."
The incident comes just months after a December holiday meltdown that led to over 16,000 flight cancellations and cost Southwest Airlines more than $1 billion. At that time, insufficient winter infrastructure and computer software problems with rescheduling passengers and crew contributed significantly to the crisis.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has accused Southwest of withholding information from Congress regarding its handling of customer refunds following last December's debacle. In response, Southwest has released a report detailing its shortcomings during that period.
According to the report: "Our end-of-year meltdown revealed weaknesses in our winter infrastructure as well as issues with our computer software responsible for rebooking passengers and crew members. We take full responsibility for these failings."
To prevent similar incidents in future peak travel seasons like Christmas holidays or other busy periods at airports nationwide, Southwest says it has already installed some software upgrades or will complete them before next winter arrives.
While no major delays or cancellations occurred during Tuesday's brief grounding of flights due to technical difficulties experienced by Dallas-based carrier - thanks largely because swift action taken by both Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials who allowed suspension at airline’s request - thousands still experienced inconvenience when their travel plans changed abruptly without warning beforehand; many left wondering what could happen next if similar situations arise again down road.
Southwest Airlines continues to work on resolving the technical issues and ensuring customer satisfaction as they move forward from these disruptions.