The Lights Are On At Atlanta Airport, But It’s Still A Mess. Here’s Some Helpful Info If You’re Traveling

The power was restored at Hartsfeld-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta around midnight.  Yesterday was a brutal slog where power was off for the better part of 12 hours at the largest airport in the US.

Southwest Airlines canceled operations late afternoon for the rest of the day.  That seemed like a prudent idea.  The lights are on in Atlanta but you can expect days of disruption.  With over 1,000 flights canceled, there were plenty of flights that couldn’t make it to Atlanta yesterday.  Those planes will be needed to operate outbound flights today in order to get things moving.  In some cases, crew will have run out of time to continue working.  In short, it’ll be a mess.

If You’re Traveling

Lots of airlines have issues travel waivers if you’re traveling to/through Atlanta.  The Gate has a great summary of those.  Not that I ever really want you to stop reading my blog, but if you’re travel involves Atlanta this week, stop reading this post and call your airline.  The folks who get re-routed earliest will still be able to enjoy most of their vacation.  Wait too long and expect to have complications.  If you’re having trouble getting through to your airline, consider reaching out to them via Twitter or other social media channels.  Expect phone lines to be swamped.

Here’s how to find the airlines on Twitter:

• Air Canada
• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Frontier Airlines
• JetBlue
• Southwest
• Spirit
• United Airlines
• Virgin America

As you can imagine, the complaints on social media are rough.  Atlanta Airport offered free parking until 8am this morning.  It’s a step in the right direction, but a curiously small window for folks stuck at the airport (or those that can’t get home).

The Final Two Pennies

I’ve heard various stories throughout the last 20 or so hours about what happened at Atlanta Airport.  The most reliable seem to involve a fire affecting the main power source for the airport.  I have no idea what it would cost to provide full redundancy for an airport that large.  It just seems that this was more severe than it needed to be.  The lack of cell service made the situation even worse.

We’ll know more in the coming days if things went as planned for a major power outage of this type.  Whether this was the expected outcome or not, I would expect this to be a major learning experience for Atlanta and many other major airports.  We can all agree this is an unacceptable set of circumstances.

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