A Sabre software glitch caused massive lines and delays at airports around the country this morning.
Sabre, which provides technology solutions to airlines, experienced a temporary outage which made it difficult for passengers flying on airlines such as JetBlue, American, and Alaska Airlines to check in for flights or pass through security at airports, according to a report on airline-outage-jetblue-american/?utm_medium=40digest.intl.carousel&utm_source=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=campaign” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow noopener noreferrer”>Fortune.com.
Standing in a huge line at Logan airport… JetBlue‘s entire system is down and no one can check in…not even the agents! pic.twitter.com/SuZ8CiC84V
— Greg Nelson (@gnels) March 26, 2019
Reports of a problem started at around 9 a.m. ET, but truly reached a fever pitch two hours later when an increasing number of passengers were not able to board their flights.
The company apologized for the inconvenience that passengers experience on Twitter, but did not elaborate on the cause of the outage.
Earlier today, Sabre experienced a system issue that impacted some customers. Technical teams were immediately engaged. Systems have recovered and customers are reporting normal operations. We apologize for the inconvenience to those affected.
— Sabre (@Sabre_Corp) March 26, 2019
In a nod to how prevalent digital technology has become for air travel, gate agents began asking passengers for paper boarding passes, which have almost become a thing of the past.
Both American Airlines and JetBlue acknowledged that the outage was caused by an outside source, apologizing to customers in the process.