After major computer glitch, Southwest Airlines delays easing

Long lines at Southwest Airlines continued Thursday morning because of a computer glitch, including flights at Sea-Tac International Airport.

Due to a widespread computer outage starting at about noon on Wednesday, Southwest Airlines experienced massive delays, and almost all flights out of its Chicago hub were grounded, CBS Chicago reported.

Travelers were unable to log in to check in for their flights, look at the status of flights or book a new one.

On Wednesday, the FAA said that the airline issued a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights -- about 700 overall.

The ground stop has since been lifted and flights were beginning to move again Wednesday as the computer system began to come back online, but on Thursday morning, there were long lines at the airline’s ticket counter at Sea-Tac.  Unaccompanied minors are not allowed travel alone on the airline Thursday in wake of the computer problems.

By about 6:30 a.m. Thursday,  only a flight to Phoenix was canceled and a flight to Los Angeles was delayed at Sea-Tac.

About 300 flights across the country are canceled Thursday as the company repositions its crews and flights and works to get travelers who were not able to fly Wednesday onto planes.

Thursday morning, the airline said most of its systems were slowly coming back online and issued the following statement:

"I want to start off by once again apologizing to our Customers and reiterating that your experience throughout the past 24 hours is not the service you should expect from Southwest Airlines. Most of our systems are back online (Thursday) morning following (Wednesday's) technology outages, but recovery will take some time. We expect some cancelations and delays as we position aircraft and crews."

"As of 6:30 a.m. CDT, we have canceled more than 221 flights and continue to manage the flight disruptions across our system. Our Employees are the best in the business, and they are working extremely hard to get you and your luggage to your destination. Thank you for hanging in there with us. We will have more information later regarding flexible rebooking, and we will continue to work with each and every affected Customer to make this right."

Cox Media Group