Seattle flights cancelled after Alaska Airlines ground stop

The Brief

Alaska Airlines experienced a systemwide ground stop due to an IT outage, leaving passengers stranded for hours.

The outage, caused by a failure at the primary data center, affected Alaska and Horizon Air flights, but not Hawaiian Airlines.

Alaska Airlines apologized and implemented a flexible travel policy to assist affected passengers.

SEATTLE - A ground stop of all Alaska Airlines flights left many passengers stranded for hours Thursday night.

Passengers described it as a miserable experience, with one man calling the situation "insane."

FOX 13 talked to an aviation expert, who says when a fully integrated IT system like Alaska's goes down, all flights have to be stopped.

What they're saying:

"Flight got delayed, but I’d rather be on the ground rather be here than