LAX power outage stalls TSA and causes potential flight delays

Several terminals at Los Angeles International Airport experienced a power outage Wednesday afternoon that threatened flights out of the airport.

LAX officials first shared the news of the unexplained power outage just before 3:00 p.m., alerting passengers to potential problems ahead.

‘@LADWP is evaluating a power issue affecting some LAX facilities at this time. The aerodrome is operating normally, but some terminals, traffic lights and other systems may not have power. Our teams are working on the issues with DWP now,” LAX officials said in a tweet.

The airport’s official Twitter account said the issue also caused the TSA to stop screening passengers.

Power was finally restored just before 3:30 pm and the cause of the outage is under investigation at this time.

‘Due to the power issue, the TSA has stopped screening passengers at most terminals, so we ask that you allow additional time. Crews are responding as quickly as possible to restore all systems,” the LAX Twitter account wrote just before 3 p.m.

At the time, officials would not disclose exactly how many of its nine terminals were affected, but said it was the majority.

“Most of our terminals are affected by the loss of power and crews are evaluating the issue,” airport officials shared.

The representatives also shared that there could be flight delays.

“Some departing flights may be affected due to no power on jet bridges,” LAX tweeted.

Less than 20 minutes after tweeting about the potential delays, power was officially restored.

‘Power has been restored to most locations or is coming online. TSA is expected to resume screening at terminals within 10-15 minutes,” LAX representatives wrote in a tweet at 3:08 p.m.

The situation could have been drastic for the airport, which is the fifth busiest in the world, according to the Airports Council International.

Although LAX and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power worked quickly to restore power, some were hesitant to celebrate.

‘Currently sitting at LAX as most terminals have been affected by a power outage. This is after a flight cancellation,” one person said.

‘Are the airlines going to delay boarding their flights since we’re all stuck here for an hour in the security line?’ asked a Twitter user.

“Presumably this will start causing a series of delays throughout the US flight network and even internationally (especially if Tom Bradley is directly affected),” another person wrote.

One person shared photos from inside the airport showing people standing around the airport while all the screens had gone blank.

‘Did the power just go out at LAX????’ wrote the Twitter user named Dev.

This is not the first time that the main airport has experienced significant power problems.

In June 2019, LAX lost power, stranding hundreds of passengers.

At that time, more than 50 flights were canceled due to disruption of more than three hours.

The outage led to cancellations by United and Southwest Airlines.

Southwest was also forced to divert flights.

The Transportation Security Administration was forced to retest the travelers, a process that took about an hour, authorities said at the time.

“An airline granted passengers whose flights were canceled access to their checked bags, resulting in the inadvertent introduction of prohibited items into the secure area of ​​the airport,” the TSA said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the TSA leadership at LAX made the decision to rescreen passengers,” the organization said.

The cause of that outage was determined to be a failure at a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power station.