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Southwest Airlines Technical Glitch Causes Long Ticket Lines At LAX

LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (CBSLA.com) — A nationwide Southwest Airlines technical glitch on Sunday forced ticket agents at LAX to manually process and hand-write tickets on Sunday, leading to long lines for passengers.

The Los Angeles Airport Police Department told arriving passengers on Sunday to expect delays. Security camera footage showed a long line for passengers at Southwest ticket desks.

Passengers were being asked to arrive 2 hours prior to their flights.

"We apologize for this morning's technical issues. We are working to restore service to our Customers, and we appreciate your patience," the airline said in a statement.

As of 12 p.m., about 250 Southwest flights nationwide had been delayed, a Southwest spokeswoman in Texas said. The airline operates 3,600 flights per day.

In a statement on its website, the airline said it is experiencing problems with Southwest.com and the Southwest Mobile app, as well as in reservations centers and in various airports.

Shortly before 2 p.m., a long line of Southwest passengers could be seen outside of Terminal 1. LAX personnel began providing water and canopies for the passengers to help them deal with the hot weather.

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KNX 1070's Ed Mertz reported that some desk agents told passengers that the computer system is unlikely to be restored at any point on Sunday.

Passengers told KNX 1070's Margaret Carrero that they waited in the ticket line for about an hour.

For updates, listen to KNX 1070.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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