Alaska Airlines grounds flights due to technology outage: What to know

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SEATTLE - An information technology outage has prompted Alaska Airlines to ground its planes.

Alaska Airlines grounds flight

What they're saying:

The airline confirmed the news in a post on the social media platform X on Thursday afternoon. 

"Alaska Airlines is experiencing an IT outage affecting operations," Alaska Airlines News wrote. "A temporary ground stop is in place. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you're scheduled to fly tonight, please check your flight status before heading to the airport."

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 jet taxis to a gate after landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. (Credit: Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

The grounding was affecting Alaska Air and Horizon Air flights.

Hawaiian Airlines, which was bought by Alaska Air Group last year, said its flights are operating as scheduled.

Alaska Airlines flights grounded in July

Big picture view:

In July, Alaska grounded all of its flights for about three hours after the failure of a critical piece of hardware at a data center.

Last year, the FAA also grounded all Alaska Airlines across the country out of an abundance of caution after it "experienced an issue while performing an upgrade to the system that calculates our weight and balance."

LAST YEAR: Alaska Airlines ground stop lifted but flight delays expected all day

There has been a history of computer problems disrupting flights in the industry, though most of the time the disruptions are only temporary.