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TRAVEL TROUBLE: COMPUTER GLITCH, WEATHER CANCEL FLIGHTS

It was not a good day to travel in much of the country.

America West Airlines customers are finally boarding flights to their destinations after a computer glitch ended up grounding 86 flights.

Hundreds of angry passengers were stranded at Sea-Tac Airport.
Airport police had to be called in to keep the peace at the America West ticket counter at Sea-Tac Airport last night.

"They really have been unresponsive to our questions. They just haven't handled the situation well at all," said one angry passenger.

A computer that handles the flight plans for the airline went down.

Instead of filing the plans in just seconds, airline employees had to do it by hand, causing all sorts of delays.

The computer is fixed, but there are still delays for some travelers.

Meantime, Northwest Airlines is also canceling flights because of a snowstorm in the Midwest. In fact, more than 210 flights have been canceled. The airline has posted a list on it's Web site.

So far, no flights involving Seattle or Portland have been canceled, but connecting flights in Detroit, Minneapolis and other Northwest hubs may be affected.

-- whew (tg@it.wasn't.worse), February 19, 2000

Answers

Time to practice those nice contingency plans, boys and girls.

-- go manual (go@outta.business), February 19, 2000.

Flying has gotten too crowded. Have you flown lately? It is more complicated now.

-- delays (rules@more.people), February 19, 2000.

You're braver than I ...anyway I love my family ...we'll travel by ground methods until the un-y2k glitches are ceased!

-- SB Ryan G III (sbrg3@juno.com), February 19, 2000.