Alaska Airlines IT Outage Grounds Flights Nationwide, Stranding Thousands of Passengers

*Seattle, WA – July 21, 2025* – Alaska Airlines, a major U.S. carrier based in Seattle, brought its entire mainline and Horizon Air fleet to a screeching halt on Sunday evening due to a significant IT outage, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across the country. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the airline's request for a system-wide ground stop, which began at approximately 8 p.m. Pacific Time and disrupted operations at its primary hub, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SeaTac), and beyond.

The outage, described by Alaska Airlines as a "certificate issue" affecting multiple systems, crippled critical operations, including the airline's ability to calculate weight and balance for flights, a vital safety requirement. "We are currently experiencing a significant IT outage, and our IT teams are working to fix the issues as quickly as possible," the airline stated on its website and in communications to customers via social media. Unlike a previous Microsoft-related outage in July 2024 that impacted other carriers, Alaska Airlines confirmed this incident was not linked to a cyberattack or unauthorized activity.

Passengers took to social media to express frustration, with reports of planes stuck on tarmacs and long delays at check-in counters. Chris Fabregas, a passenger at SeaTac, posted on X, "Hey @AlaskaAir, we're stuck on the tarmac in #Seattle. The pilot said all Alaska systems are down for the next hour. Can someone in IT just unplug the computer, wait 5 seconds, and plug it back in?" Others reported missed connections, canceled events, and hours spent waiting for updates, with one user noting, "No communication for over 40 minutes, then something about a maintenance issue? This is bad business."

The ground stop, which lasted approximately one hour for mainline flights, caused ripple effects throughout the evening. Alaska Airlines warned of "residual impacts" and urged passengers to check flight statuses before heading to airports. At SeaTac, a key hub, a ground stop for arrivals further compounded delays. One passenger, Laura Matson, vented on X about baggage delays: "Paid $230 in checked baggage fees and still waiting over an hour for luggage to arrive. No announcement of what's going on."

This outage follows a turbulent year for Alaska Airlines, which faced scrutiny after a January 2024 incident involving a Boeing 737 Max 9 door plug blowout mid-flight. The airline also navigated a separate IT issue in April 2024, halting flights due to a system upgrade glitch. Industry analysts suggest Sunday's outage may raise further questions about the reliability of Alaska's IT infrastructure, especially as the airline integrates operations following its merger with Hawaiian Airlines, cleared by the Department of Transportation in 2024.

By late Sunday, Alaska Airlines reported that the issue was resolved, and flights resumed, but the fallout continued into Monday as the airline worked to clear backlogs. "We apologize to our guests for this inconvenience," the airline said in a statement to Reuters. The FAA has not yet released additional details, and Alaska Airlines has not specified the full scope of affected flights, though the carrier operates 238 Boeing aircraft nationwide.

Passengers affected by the outage are advised to contact Alaska Airlines' customer service or visit alaskaair.com for rebooking options. As the airline scrambles to restore normal operations, travelers are left hoping for smoother skies ahead.

*Sources: Reuters, ABC News, Downdetector, X posts*[](https://x.com/ABC/status/1947151830930358590)[](https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/alaska-airlines-hit-by-it-outage-causing-ground-stop-seattle-2024-09-23/)[](https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/live-alaska-airlines-flights-halted-1279927)