Alaska Airlines experiencing significant flight delays

SEATTLE - The computers Alaska Airlines uses to check in passengers stopped working at 7:40 a.m. Monday, causing long lines of frustrated passengers who were unable to board flights that were delayed.

Technicians worked to fix the problem, but the company could not say how long it would last. Alaska Airlines President and CEO Brad Tilden said there might be a partial solution by noon Pacific time and a full resolution by 5 p.m.

"We're doing everything we can to get back on track," Tilden said at Sea-Tac Airport during an unrelated announcement with Delta Air Lines about a new route.

The problem was system wide for the airline, a major West Coast carrier.

It could only apologize and ask for patience, said spokeswoman Bobbie Egan. An announcement in the Sea-Tac terminal said the airline would check passengers manually. Another announcement said passengers could re-book at no charge.

On its website, Alaska said if passengers missed flights they'd try to get them on the next available one and would also try to book people on other airlines if that was necessary.

The Seattle-based Alaska Airlines is the seventh-largest U.S. airline based on passenger traffic and is the dominant U.S. West Coast air carrier. It has an average of 436 flights a day at 64 destinations.

Alaska and its sister carrier, Horizon Air, are owned by Alaska Air Group.