Pocono News Section

W-B/Scranton Airport Affected by Computer Glitch

W-B/Scranton Airport Affected by Computer Glitch - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 8:36PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Thursday, Nov 19, 2009 @ 08:36pm EST

AVOCA, LUZERNE COUNTY - A computer glitch caused problems for air travelers across the country and at the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton International Airport Thursday. It is the second problem in just 15 months.

NBC News is reporting the problem started at a computer center in Salt Lake City and affected flight plans. It lasted for five hours and was cleared up just before 10:00 AM.

Delays and cancellations flashed across the board at the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton International Airport Thursday morning. Ken Zale was trying to get on a flight back home to Orlando.

"Right now, its delayed my flight by an hour and a-half so I'm hoping to hit my connector in Philly but they say it's delayed down there as well because of weather. Flying through Philly is always an adventure," Zale said.

Gil Hoban of Moosic was delayed as well. He was hoping to get to Fort Myers for vacation only three hours late.

"If I was a serious guy, I'd be screaming but the truth of the matter is, what are you going to do? You've just got to roll with the punches," Hoban said.

Jolene Kaminsky was rolling with the punches in the airport lounge. She just wants to roll the dice in Las Vegas but was delayed for two hours.

"We're saying it's probably a sign that we aren't gonna win anything but hopefully, maybe, our bad luck is over after this," Kaminsky said.

Thursday's computer glitch is the second one in 15 months. In August 2008, a software problem delayed hundreds of other flights nationwide. Now many people are wondering, does the FAA need more resources to help prevent problems like this?

"The airlines are having so much trouble financially so it just compounds the problems of flying from that standpoint," Zale said.

"I think it should be looked at. It's just lax," Brad Mattingly of Phoenix said.

"As much money as we spend on the FAA, you'd like they'd have the ability to make sure the planes fly," Hoban said.

By 6:00 PM, everything was getting back to normal at the airport. At least two arriving flights were cancelled while one departing flight was cancelled.