Delays have been reported at airports around the globe due to a computer glitch on a Sabre airline check-in service that caused a major backlog.
Airlines including American, Jet Blue, Frontier, Virgin America, Qantas, British Airways and Virgin Australia were affected by problems with the Sabre booking and check-in system, which is back online this morning.
Southlake-based Sabre Holdings spokeswoman Nancy St. Pierre was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald as saying that the reason for the failure is not known.
"Sabre customers were unable to connect to our system for a period of time this evening. We apologise and regret the inconvenience caused," St. Pierre said in a written statement."
The technical glitch forced airlines to check in passengers manually, causing delays at airport counters.
The timeframe for the system, used for reservations, check-ins, and online bookings, being down was 8:40pm PDT to 11pm PDT.
Virgin Australia spokeswoman said: "We are on schedule today; there may be some flights that have minor delays, but aside from that we are on schedule."
Following the technical glitch in the reservation system, some of the airlines shifted to manual booking system to issue boarding passes.
The Sabre booking system is used by more than 300 airlines and more than 100 airports across the world.
