October 26, 2025

In a shocking tech glitch, Alaska Airlines had to cancel more than 360 flights across its network, including its sister airline, Horizon Air. This huge system outage forced flights to stop on Thursday and early Friday, causing chaos for travelers everywhere! But don’t worry, the airline has confirmed the problem was a system failure – not a cyberattack, clearing any security fears. Early Friday, Alaska Airlines announced it was restarting flights after a total ground stop imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The halt lifted late Thursday night (11:30 p.m. local time), but the disruption hit hard with more than 229 flights canceled across all airports according to the airline. Stocks took a nosedive as Alaska Airlines shares dropped 6.14% following the outage news. The airline told Reuters, "We are working to get our operations back on track as quickly and safely as possible," but warned more flight disruptions could still happen. On social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Alaska Airlines opened up to customers, saying, "Unfortunately, we are experiencing an error on our system, but our IT team is working to get this resolved as soon as possible." This candid update came as many travelers faced booking problems both on the airline’s website and app. The timing of this trouble is tricky. Alaska Airlines was already bracing for the fourth-quarter profits to fall well below expectations due to rising fuel costs and other challenges. The company even postponed its earnings call from October 24 because of this big outage. It’s not the first time Alaska has stumbled with tech glitches. Back in July, the airline grounded flights for about three hours due to a similar IT outage, which knocked roughly 10 cents off its third-quarter earnings per share. The airline has not yet shared how much this latest snafu will cost them financially. But one thing’s clear: Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air customers had a rollercoaster ride thanks to this unexpected tech meltdown. Will the airline bounce back quickly? Time will tell, but the IT team is working hard behind the scenes! So next time you plan a trip with Alaska Airlines, keep an eye out – hopefully, this was just a bad tech day, not an omen for more turbulence ahead.

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Tags: Alaska airlines, Flight cancellations, System outage, Horizon air, It issues, Airline stocks,