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BREAKING: FAA issues nationwide ground stop for all Alaska Airlines flights after complete system failure - All passengers advised to check flight status
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Alaska Airlines Fleet Grounded After Nationwide System Outage

FAA issues emergency ground stop affecting all Alaska Airlines flights as IT system failure cripples operations

Updated 3 minutes ago By Aviation Watch Team
Grounded Alaska Airlines fleet at SeaTac
Alaska Airlines jets sit idle at SeaTac International Airport during the nationwide ground stop (Image: Getty Images)

Complete Operational Meltdown

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an emergency ground stop for all Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK) flights nationwide after a catastrophic IT system failure brought operations to a standstill.

Critical Information:

All Alaska Airlines departures frozen at all airports • System-wide IT outage affects check-in and reservations • No estimated restoration time provided

The crisis began at approximately 6:45 AM Pacific Time when Alaska Airlines' reservation, check-in, and operational systems suddenly crashed. By 7:30 AM, the FAA had issued the formal ground stop at the airline's request.

Passenger Chaos at SeaTac

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Alaska Airlines' primary hub, has descended into chaos with thousands of stranded passengers. Departure boards throughout the terminal show exclusively red "CANCELLED" indicators for Alaska flights.

Stranded passengers at airport Empty Alaska counter

Technical Investigation Underway

Alaska Airlines technical teams are working with cybersecurity experts and FAA technical advisors to restore systems. Preliminary reports indicate the outage stems from a major router failure at the airline's Seattle data center.

"We are in uncharted territory here. The complete system collapse means we can't even manually process passengers safely. This will take significant time to resolve."
- Aviation IT Specialist at SeaTac

Passenger Advisory

  • All passengers with bookings today should consider flights canceled
  • No rebooking currently available - systems offline
  • Do not travel to airports until further notice
  • Baggage recovery will be delayed indefinitely
  • No accommodation or meal vouchers at this time

Current Status

  • All Alaska Airlines Flights

    GROUNDED - FAA ORDER

  • IT Systems

    Complete outage

  • Partner Airlines

    Code-shares affected

Flight Status Checker

Enter your Alaska Airlines flight number

System offline - functionality unavailable

Most Impacted Airports

  1. Seattle-Tacoma (SEA)
  2. Portland (PDX)
  3. Los Angeles (LAX)
  4. San Francisco (SFO)
  5. Anchorage (ANC)

Timeline of Events

06:45 AM PT

Initial system failures reported

07:15 AM PT

Full operational collapse

07:30 AM PT

FAA issues nationwide ground stop

08:45 AM PT

Aircraft inbound diverted

Airline Network Impact Analysis