Internet problem at KCI Wednesday morning causes delays for travelers
Update: The airport announced about 10:06 a.m. Wednesday that Southwest Airlines was back online.
Internet issues at Kansas City International Airport were causing delays in the check-in process Wednesday morning for passengers on Southwest Airlines, airport officials announced early Wednesday.
Because of the problems, travelers not checking bags were being urged to complete the check-in process and get their boarding passes before getting to the airport. Those passengers were advised to go directly to the security checkpoints.
Jody Willmott, 22, and her sister Ruth Willmott, 25, knew that something was amiss as soon as they arrived at the airport — people were everywhere.
A line stretched outside the doors to the terminal. It took 30 minutes for the sisters from Lawrence to make their way inside. Their Washington D.C. flight, initially set to leave at 7:30 a.m., was canceled.
“It was chaos,” said Jody Willmott, who starts a new job at a human rights organization in D.C. on Monday.
After waiting in line for another hour, the sisters were told they had to call a number to book another flight. The Southwest staff at check-in couldn’t help them because of the internet issues. Their new flight leaves at 2 p.m.
“This whole area was full, there were lines going both ways,” Ruth said. “There was no direction.”
For now, they plan on reading books and sipping their Starbucks drinks — black coffee for Jody and a chai tea latte for Ruth — while they pass the time.
Those looking to avoid the ticket counter by using the self check-in kiosks were met with an endless circle indicating that the systems was attempting to load the program.
Airport officials alerted travelers to the problem on Twitter at 6 a.m., saying the delays were being caused by slow internet connectivity. Staff and contractors were working to fix the problem.
In a later tweet, KCI officials said the issues involved a planned fiber cutover for Southwest Airlines related to the new terminal.
The fiber was in place, but the “handshake” between internet service providers was not connecting, airport officials said.
“They are on site working on the problem,” airport officials said on Twitter. “Many apologies.”
Several inbound flights were canceled and Southwest was holding flights when it could, airport officials said.
About 10:06 a.m., the airport announced Southwest was back online.
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 6:27 AM.
