Late-night travelers at San Francisco International Airport ran into a digital snag yesterday when a computer glitch in the international terminal briefly gummed up outbound departures and forced airline staff to go old-school with manual check-ins at some counters.
According to the airport’s duty manager, as many as 14 departing flights were caught in the slowdown, with hold times stretching from about five minutes to roughly an hour. While a technical team worked to track down the source of the problem, airlines shuffled gates and passengers where they could to keep things moving.
As reported by NBC Bay Area, the duty manager said the issue was largely confined to the international terminal and that some ticket counters had to switch to manual check-in and boarding while systems were down. The outlet noted that airport officials had not immediately identified a cause and said a team was “looking into the computers.” Airline representatives did not have immediate public statements when NBC Bay Area published its report.
Why a small glitch can ripple across SFO
San Francisco relies on a 24/7 Airport Integrated Operations Center to coordinate airlines, security and facilities whenever something goes sideways, but that nerve center works on a tight schedule with little room for error. The airport’s own description of the AIOC details how SFO moves teams and contingency plans in real time, per FlySFO.
At the same time, the FAA’s decision to cut arrival rates, combined with runway and construction constraints, has already squeezed capacity, a shift documented by AP News. In that environment, even a short-lived tech problem can ripple through the day’s schedule far more quickly than travelers might expect.
What travelers should do
Anyone heading through SFO in the next few hours would be wise to double-check flight status with their airline and keep an eye on live trackers such as FlightAware for up-to-the-minute gate and departure information.
International travelers with tight connections should contact their carrier about rebooking options and give themselves extra time at the airport in case check-in or boarding is still slowed. Policies differ by airline, so passengers with flexible itineraries may find it easier to adjust plans on the fly.
A reminder of a bigger outage
This latest hiccup is far smaller than the global tech outage that hit SFO in July 2024, when a faulty software update triggered dozens of cancellations and hundreds of delays at the airport, highlighting how quickly system failures can snowball, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. That earlier episode brought long rebooking lines and widespread disruption, a worst-case scenario that airports try to avoid through contingency planning.
At the time of publication, the cause of Wednesday night’s glitch remained unknown, and airport officials said a technical team was still investigating. Flight status remained subject to change as airlines continued working through the delays. This story will be updated if SFO or affected carriers release additional details.
_-_3.JPG){kind=link}