Southwest Airlines: Computer Glitch Grounds Jets

Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV - news) was forced to ground its entire fleet of planes preparing for departure on Friday night due to a system-wide computer failure.

The glitch impaired the company's ability to conduct check-ins, print boarding passes and monitor the weight of each aircraft.

An estimated 250 flights - most of them on the West Coast - were grounded at least temporarily.

Some 57 flights had to be cancelled even after service was fully restored hours later, a company spokeswoman said.

Michelle Agnew told The Associated Press that 43 of the cancellations were flights scheduled to depart late on Friday night in the western US.

The other 14 were Saturday morning flights scattered across the US because crews were not able to get to airports in time to make the scheduled take-offs.