March 28, 2011
Monday

Alaska Airlines experienced a computer system outage this past weekend that disrupted our operation, and we want to offer our profound apologies to the thousands of customers who were affected. We recognize we fell far short of our service commitment to you and are working diligently to determine the underlying causes of the failure to prevent a recurrence.

So that we may take care of our customers in the way we would like to, we are reaching out through multiple channels to ask customers whose flights were disrupted by this event to please contact our Customer Care team after rebooking so we can follow up with you. We have a team in place to respond and plan to get back to you within two weeks.

 All of us at Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air appreciate your business and continued loyalty, and are committed to delivering the reliable operations you have come to expect from us.

 Sincerely,

Brad Tilden
Alaska Airlines, President

Glenn Johnson
Horizon Air, President    

Received March 28, 2011 - Published March 28, 2011

Related News Release:

ALASKA AIRLINES AND HORIZON AIR OPERATIONS NEARLY NORMAL AFTER COMPUTER SYSTEM IS RESTORED

SEATTLE — A computer system outage that disrupted Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights Saturday has been resolved. The majority of Alaska and Horizon flights are operating on time although the airlines have delayed about a dozen flights due to crew scheduling issues.

Throughout the day Saturday, Alaska and Horizon canceled 150 flights affecting some 12,150 passengers. Customers were being re-accommodated on the next available flight at no charge and in some cases on other airlines.

“With computer systems restored and our operation back on track today, we will continue to assist those customers whose flights were canceled yesterday,” Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden said. “On behalf of the 13,000 Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air employees, I offer my profound apology to customers inconvenienced by this disruption.”

A central computer system used to prepare flight plans and other information went down early Saturday morning after a backup power system upgrade was being installed and a transformer malfunctioned.

Customers whose flight plans were affected by the computer outage and have been re-accommodated are advised to contact the airlines’Customer Care team.

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