DALLAS - A spokesman for Southwest Airlines says all departing flights have been grounded due to a system-wide computer problem.
Brad Hawkins tells The Associated Press that all aircraft in the air are unaffected. The computer problem affected the airline's ability to do such things as conduct check-in, print boarding passes and check the weight of the aircraft. He says some flights were on the taxiway and diverted back to the terminal after the glitch occurred around 11 p.m. ET Friday.
Because of the late hours Hawkins says the disruption was far more severe on the West Coast. He said the problem still hadn't been resolved as of 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
Hawkins couldn't estimate how many flights were affected out of the around 3,400 the Dallas-based airline flies each day.