Yesterday, technical difficulties forced Los Angeles International Airport to shut down for at least an hour. Travel chaos ensued as incoming flights were diverted, outgoing flights were postponed, and any number of sad vacation-goers missed their connecting flights to Hawaii.
Parking chaos also ensued because thousands of people waiting to pick up/drop off passengers waited around to see if the airport would resume operations. Parking structures 3, 4, 5 and 6 were filled to capacity and officials asked drivers to try structures 1, 2 and 7 and a nearby offsite lot. According to LAtimes.com:
Throughout the day, 27 arriving flights were canceled, 212 were delayed and 27 were diverted to other airports, LAX says. And 23 departing flights were canceled, largely because of unavailable aircraft from canceled arrivals, and 216 were delayed.
The airport released a statement that operations would return to normal by midnight.
You never know how someone else’s technical issues are going to affect you. Some of the ebb and flow of doing business is predictable: large events, major holidays, inclement weather are all on the board well before the swell arrives. But a situation like the one at LAX is totally unexpected and quite possibly, a valuable learning experience.
Read the article here.
