Alaska Airlines sent passengers into a frenzy on Sunday night, temporarily grounding all flights nationwide after a major IT outage.
The company says in a statement the outage occurred around 8 PM PST, forcing a pause on all flights for about 3 hours before operations resumed.
Trying to fly back to Austin from Seattle. Sea-Tac is a madhouse right now. Alaska Airlines ground stop. These crowds speak for themselves. pic.twitter.com/JzQ4YdHF11
— Adam Bennett (@AdamBennettKVUE) July 21, 2025
@AdamBennettKVUE
However, video captured by Adam Bennett, a news reporter in Austin, shows a “madhouse” at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as a result of the delays.
Hanging with a few thousand of my besties at Seattle Tacoma airport because of the @AlaskaAir grounding. pic.twitter.com/EUMXGlJoET
— Kaitlyn C. (@kaitlyn1526) July 21, 2025
@kaitlyn1526
A swarm of frustrated passengers is seen crowding the gates, stuck in long lines and waiting for answers.
Although Alaska Airlines is back up and running, it unfortunately seems like there will be a rippling domino effect from the IT outage. The company says, “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.”
Inatagram/Backgrid
This marks the second time in just over a year the airline has halted its entire fleet. Back in April 2024, Alaskan Airlines grounded its planes due to a system issue that calculates weight and balance of aircrafts.
