Airline agents are filling out baggage tags by hand as a cyberattack continues to plague SeaTac Airport’s computer systems. The attack was apparently launched on Saturday against the Seattle Port Authority, which runs the airport. It led to numerous delays and cancellations over the weekend. As of Monday, there was no end in sight and no prediction on when operations would return to normal.
Airlines with independent computer systems are less affected than those that share gates with other airlines and depend on the SeaTac system. The baggage system was among the most severely affected because the barcode scanners that are fundamental to its operation are all down. Alaska Airlines says it has 7,000 bags that didn’t travel with their owners to sort and get on their way. Extra staff have been brought in to deal with the workload and the numbers of delays and cancellations have steadily declined. TSA and FAA operations have not been affected.
