Southwest computer glitch causes residual delays at T.F. Green

July 21, 2016 3:25 pm

By Bianca Buono

bbuono@abc6.com

@BBuonoABC6

The computer glitch that led to thousands of canceled or delayed Southwest flights has been fixed, but travelers are still stuck. That includes many traveling to and from Rhode Island.

Lines for security at T.F. Green were empty Thursday, but that wasn’t the case at the Southwest counter. Customers impatiently waited, each with their own horror story.

"Yesterday I was supposed to leave on a direct flight to Tampa. That got delayed until tomorrow,” said Karla Schinigoi who was traveling to Tampa.

"They kept telling us delay, delay, delay. And approximately 5 and a half hours later after being here they finally canceled the flight,” said Tom Noonan who was traveling home to Florida.

Tom Noonan and his wife were supposed to fly home to Florida yesterday. Then, there was a computer glitch. Southwest Airlines canceled hundreds of flights nationwide.

Thursday, the problem was fixed, but the airline was left with thousands of frustrated customers who were anxious to get home.

Because of the back-ups, the Noonans are unable to fly home until Saturday. Their vacation is now becoming a financial burden.

"I’m losing money at work down in Florida. We have to get additional hotels and car rental,” Noonan said.

Others at T.F. Green were disappointed with the lack of communication from Southwest. They only found out about the glitch by checking the internet.

"The airlines did not immediately tell us what was going on. We waited for hours and one flight was delayed an hour and then the next flight was delayed an hour,” Schinigoi said.

Thankfully several flights Thursday were on time; but even passengers who weren’t affected by the delays were warned.

"The attendant informed me that there’s no guarantees on Southwest flying today,” said Maurice Montana who’s traveling to Virginia.

The Noonan family was told they will be reimbursed for their extra expenses, but because so many customers nationwide are doing the same thing, there is no telling how long it will take before they get their money back.