Travelers around the world faced flight delays and cancellations all because of one computer software outage that had the power to disrupt a plethora of airline reservations systems. When the Sabre system went down late last night, some airlines turned to good old-fashioned pen and paper to check in and board passengers. Just like in yore!

The accidental throwback to the days of old was prompted by a lost connection in the Sabre reservations system, which is based in Texas. It lasted for about four hours starting last night and into the wee hours, and disrupted carriers like American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Virgin and more.

By the time the system was up and running this morning, reports NBC News, dozens of flights were delayed due to airline staff on carriers like Alaska, Virgin Australia and Etihad having to manually process passengers.

Customers were likely peeved but at least a few exhibited a sense of humor about the whole situation on Twitter.

“These things happen,” wrote one Twitter user, along with a photo of his “state of the art” handwritten Virgin Australia boarding pass.

Dallas-Forth Worth-based Sabre issued an apology for the widespread troubles.on.

“Sabre customers were unable to connect to our system for a period of time this evening,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. “This has been restored and everyone is now able to connect to Sabre. We apologize and regret the inconvenience caused.”

The below video is what I think airlines should play every time something goes wrong. Welcome to the funniest thing in my life c. 2003.

Global airline computer outage triggers delays, cancellations [NBC News]

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