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[backstory]
‘No estimated point of return:’ Cyberattack continues to plague Sea-Tac Airport
Aug 26, 2024, 5:09 PM | Updated: 5:57 pm
By KIRO Newsradio
A suspected cyberattack Saturday is still slowing down services at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac Airport) and all Port of Seattle operations.
“There’s currently no estimated point of return,” for affected services, Sea-Tac Airport spokesperson Perry Cooper said, opening the press conference. He reminded travelers to rely on their airline’s website, apps and other sources for information as the relevant services from the airport are still down.
Alaska Airlines, Delta and other major airlines who do not share counters in the terminal area are less impacted than airlines like Frontier, Sun Country and Spirit, Cooper said.
Some airlines — like the ones using shared working space at Sea-Tac Airport — are having to resort to using pen and paper to track baggage, as their companies have not brought in their own computers so they rely on airport’s, Cooper added.
“International is a challenge,” Cooper said to KIRO Newsradio before the press conference. This is because they share counters with other airlines, they have lower staff and they are having to handle baggage operations with handwritten notes.
Sea-Tac Airport’s X account, @flySEA, reported Monday afternoon that Visitor Pass and Airport Lost and Found are not accessible at this time.
Cooper said at the press conference Monday TSA systems are unaffected because they use independent systems from the port. He also confirmed to KIRO Newsradio there have been no issues or trouble with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and air traffic control.
The investigation is still ongoing but, to this point, he has seen “no indication” of compromised passenger information. Cooper says Sea-Tac Airport is working with federal agencies, including the FBI. The level of disruption on the Port of Seattle still isn’t known. The port’s websites, including the Sea-Tac Airport pages, remained unavailable for users as of 5:15 p.m. Monday. A temporary website has been created for those interested in getting regular updates about what’s happening at the airport. The Port of Seattle Maritime Facilities phone systems are down as a part of the outage, according to a post published on X just before 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Trouble for travelers at Sea-Tac Airport
Some arriving passengers at Sea-Tac Airport are still dealing with issues getting their bags quickly after the suspected cyberattack. An airport official told KIRO Newsradio Monday the barcode scanner inside the conveyor belt system isn’t working, so extra staff are picking up slack.
Carousels in the baggage claim area were running Monday morning, but some of the information screens aren’t showing which flight goes where. So, families are listening for updates over the PA system and then they’re hurrying to the carousel.
A spokesperson for Alaska Airlines said staff was manually sorting over 7,000 bags, because “a majority” of checked bags missed their flights over the weekend, The Seattle Times reported.
KIRO Newsradio also discovered issues on the main floor at the airport. Self-service check-in terminals are giving the Windows “blue screen of death,” noting that “Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart.” Meanwhile, multiple Spirit Airlines customers said to KIRO Newsradio agents’ computers are down and they have been waiting at check-in for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Those people were probably about halfway to the front.
In the international area, passengers headed to Frankfurt had waited 1 1/2 hours to move about 50 feet from the start of the line. They had about 2/3 of the way to go, around 3:30 p.m., while trying to make a 5 p.m. flight. Despite the issues some customers faced, Cooper has credited the airlines with bringing in extra staff and playing catch up. He was not seeing as many delays Monday as over the weekend. “We’re doing better today than last couple days,” Cooper said to KIRO Newsradio.
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