Southwest Airlines operations 'back to normal' after glitch

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Southwest Airlines resumed normal operations after a nationwide computer glitch caused hundreds of flight delays on Sunday. Some passengers found longer lines than normal at Midway Airport on Monday.

"They just said they were having system issues yesterday. This morning I tried to check in online and I couldn't do it either. We'll see," said Chuck Parks, a Southwest passenger.

Fortunately, most flights were on time at Midway Monday morning.

"I was able to print out my boarding passes. It was no big deal," said Iqra Masood, a Southwest traveler.

The Dallas-based airline tweeted Monday that operations were back to normal.

"After a challenging Sunday for our Employees and Customers, we're expecting the technical systems that power our Customer Service to perform normally today. Teams worked throughout the night in advance of our first departures to ensure the smoothest operation today," Southwest said in a statement on Monday.

The Dallas-based airline said Monday that Southwest is still working to deliver bags and get delayed or displaced customers into open seats. Passengers who intended to travel Sunday or Monday can now change their plans on Southwest.com.

Southwest recommended checking in online or on its app before getting to the airport and said travelers should have a printed boarding pass or mobile boarding pass with them.

"It's never too early to say thank you and to extend our apologies and we want to share those sentiments both with our hard-working Employees and our loyal and understanding Customers, whom we hope to welcome back for a better experience soon. We'll continue to work individually with our affected Customers to make this right," Southwest said in a statement Monday.

Representatives for Southwest did not say what caused the problem. Spokesman Brad Hawkins said there was "absolutely no indication now" that the problems were the result of hacking.

The airline used backup procedures across the country to check in passengers manually after the glitch on Sunday. The process created long lines and flight delays. About 836 of the Sunday's 3,355 flights were delayed.

The glitch also affected Southwest's website and mobile app.

"When I tried to check in last night, it just said, 'This page cannot be found.' I just checked in this morning," Monique Rodriguez, a Southwest passenger, said on Monday.

Last month, American Airlines experienced computer problems that prevented passengers from checking in and briefly halted flights on select routes. Airline officials said at the time that they fixed the problem after less than two hours, and that there was no indication that its system had been hacked.

In July, hundreds of United Airlines flights were delayed after the airline experienced computer problems for the second time in just over a month. A United representative said at the time that the glitch was caused by an internal technology issue, and not an outside threat or hacker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.