Glitch delays flights

Some Northwest Airline travelers inconvenienced

The Daily Inter Lake

and The Associated Press

A computer glitch caused more delays for some Northwest Airlines flights Wednesday, as the carrier attempted to fly a full schedule while its technicians worked to fix the problem that delayed nearly 300 flights Tuesday.

Although no flights were canceled Wednesday, about 80 Northwest flights had been delayed an average of 20 minutes by midmorning.

Glacier Park International Airport offers two Northwest flights, both 148-passenger Airbuses to Minneapolis. The flights, which leave at 8:50 a.m. and 2 p.m., were delayed Wednesday, according to Jim Monogue, customer service agent for Northwest.

"We got out relatively close to schedule, just about 15 minutes late," he said. "It just meant a little longer lines."

Most of the holdup, he said, is because airport workers had to write bag tags - something the computer typically generates.

"It wasn't real significant, but it was a little inconvenient," he said.

Northwest Spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said Wednesday the airline's information technology department made progress on restoring the airline's computer system. In the meantime, backup systems were used.

Of Northwest's 1,364 scheduled flights Tuesday, the problem delayed about 285 departures by an average of 21 minutes, he said. He said Detroit was the most seriously affected of its three U.S. hubs. Minneapolis-St. Paul and Memphis, Tenn., experienced fewer delays. The departure delays included international flights.

The problem began Tuesday afternoon in a computer system that enables communication between the Worldspan global distribution system and some Northwest airport computer systems, Northwest said.

The system gradually began returning to normal about 45 minutes later but still was operating at limited capacity late Tuesday, Ebenhoch said.

Northwest was encouraging customers to check in and obtain their boarding passes over the Internet and check their flight status online.

The airline allowed customers to change travel plans without penalty. Customers with confirmed tickets for travel Tuesday and Wednesday can reschedule their travel to begin on or before Aug. 1 without penalty or administrative fees.

On the 'Net:

Northwest Airlines: http://www.nwa.com/