SALT LAKE CITY — Southwest Airlines resumed operations after a technical issue led to a nationwide ground stop by the company Tuesday morning.
In an update at 10 a.m., Southwest said they paused flight activity Tuesday morning to work through data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure. They said a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost.
When they returned to operation, that set off flight delays across the country, including close to two dozen at the Salt Lake City International Airport.
"Our flight did get delayed," said Jake Lindorff from Syracuse. "We have like an eight-month-old, so it is tough with him. It ruins your schedule."
Lindorff, his wife, his in-laws and baby boy Brodie are flying into Long Beach, California to visit Disneyland.
He says he also experienced delays the last time he flew on Southwest.
"We did fly Southwest last December and our flight did get delayed. It was like five hours," said Lindorff. "I remember telling my wife... 'We're done flying Southwest. We're done.' But here we are again."
It was back in December when Southwest Airlines saw a significant disruption due to a winter storm and cold temperatures around the Christmas holiday.
It led to the company delaying 60% of their flights over a week-long period.
The delays on Tuesday not only impacted those who are headed out on vacation, but also people like Claire Archer, who was heading home to Sacramento.
"It's delayed 35 minutes now, but it seems to be the delay seems to be increasing," she said.
Archer was traveling with two of her friends.
"It's annoying to get home later than we planned," she said.
While Lindorff and his family will eventually get to "The Happiest Place on Earth" in southern California, he says the delay is an inconvenience.
"It discourages us," he said.
As of 5 p.m., there have been nearly 2,300 Southwest Airlines flights delayed, according to FlightAware.com.
