More than 1,800 Southwest flights delayed nationwide on Tuesday

TAMPA, Fla. - Four months after canceling nearly 17,000 flights around Christmas due to a system failure, Southwest Airlines dealt with more technical issues Tuesday morning.

More than 1,800 nationwide flights were delayed, including many at Tampa International Airport. Delays at TPA ranged from 20 minutes to two hours. 

In a statement, the Dallas-based airline said, "A vendor-supplied firewall went down, and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost. Southwest Teams worked quickly to minimize flight disruptions."

As a result, the FAA announced a pause in Southwest’s departures at the airline’s request around 10:30 a.m.

READ: Southwest Airlines resumes operations, lifts pause on departures after technology issues

"It just said there was a pause," Southwest passenger Janet Leonard said of the news alert she received on her phone. "We had never heard of a flight being paused. So we were a little anxious."

"I wondered if that was going to be a permanent deal or if that was just something temporary," delayed Southwest passenger Joan Gamble said. "The word ‘pause’ just clicked in my head. I don’t want to be ‘paused’ that long."

About 30 minutes later, the FAA tweeted the pause had been lifted, and service had resumed.

Southwest Airlines said to FOX 13: "These types of events are very rare, and today’s was quite brief." However, the airline did acknowledge the disruptions and delays.

MORE: Tampa International Airport is seeing strong passenger traffic after a busy March

Although Tuesday’s disruption was minor compared to what happened in December, Southwest passengers haven’t forgotten about the airline’s massive Christmas meltdown. But they were thankful Tuesday’s situation wasn’t as bad.

"We just remembered what happened at Christmastime at Southwest when they had the technical difficulties," delayed Southwest passenger Patrice Lyttle said.