NY1
Baggage System Fixed At JFK; Operations Return To Normal
July 31, 2008
Employees with American Airlines say the baggage system is up and running at John F. Kennedy Airport, but the airline is still working to reunite travelers with their bags – following yesterday's software glitch that caused major delays.
The computer problem appears to be fixed and operations are returning to normal.
American was forced to cancel five flights for today.
Passengers who arrived for flights this morning said they got to the airport early today after hearing about yesterday's problems.
"We just left a half-hour earlier than planned and so far, so good," said one passenger.
"As far as today goes, it was excellent. We went right through," said another. "The guy who took the bags was very, very nice. I'm very happy with American Airlines today."
American says the problem was caused by a software failure in the computer that reads the bar code on each piece of tagged luggage and then sends it on a conveyor belt to the proper gate.
The problem caused 48 flights to be delayed.
American gave passengers the choice of waiting out the problem, traveling from another airport, or flying on and having the bags delivered later. In light of the problem, the airline waived its $15 fee for the first checked bag on domestic flights.