Customs outage causes waits at RSW, airports nationwide

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a statement saying a processing system outage caused delays at various airports, including Southwest Florida International Airport.

The statement says CBP officers continued processing international travelers using “alternative procedures” until the system came back online Monday but waits were longer than usual at some airports.

Only one international flight was to arrive Monday night in Fort Myers — Air Canada flight No. 1664 from Toronto — and it was delayed by 95 minutes as of shortly before 9:30 p.m. Dozens of other domestic arrivals were also delayed:

Several departures from Fort Myers were delayed, but the problem was mostly with inbound flights.

In Atlanta, CBP public affairs officer Robert Brisley says the customs system outage at the city’s airport lasted about an hour from late afternoon into early evening. He said that officers were working to recover quickly afterward but even short outages can lead to backups at the airport, one of the world’s busiest.

He said the agency apologizes to travelers who were delayed getting into the country after long flights.

Brisley said the cause of the outage was still being evaluated.