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Passengers across the U.S. were hit by travel chaos Wednesday evening after a system outage grounded United Airlines flights at major airports.
United said the underlying tech issue had been resolved late Wednesday but warned passengers of knock-on delays.
The issue impacted United flights in regional hubs across the country, including Chicago, Denver, Newark, Houston, and San Francisco. Other airlines are not affected.
“We are working with customers to get them to their destinations after a technology disruption on Wednesday evening,” United said in an update. “The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and, while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations.”
The tech problem was not a cybersecurity issue, the airline confirmed to The Independent.
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The tech issue impacted United flights in regional hubs across the country, including Chicago, Denver, Newark, Houston, and San Francisco. Other airlines are not affected. (AFP via Getty Images)
The Federal Aviation Authority said it was supporting United following the disruption.
“We’re aware United experienced a technology issue disrupting their operations,” the agency said in a statement. “Some delays may continue as they work through the recovery process. We’ve offered full support to help address their flight backlog and remain in close contact with United.”
“Due to a technology issue, we are holding United mainline flights at their departure airports,” United said earlier in the evening. “We expect additional flight delays this evening as we work through this issue. Safety is our top priority, and we’ll work with our customers to get them to their destinations.”
Newark Liberty Airport, United’s largest hub in the U.S., said a system outage affecting the airline was causing flight disruptions. “Please check with your airline to determine the status of your flight,” the airport advised in a post on X.
Passengers complained on social media that they had been waiting on the tarmac at airports for more than two hours following the outage, with no sign of movement any time soon.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused. We are aware of the system error and our teams are working to resolve this to have you on your way,” United’s social media account replied to stranded passengers on X.
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Newark Liberty Airport, United’s largest hub in the U.S., said a system outage affecting the airline was causing flight disruptions. “Please check with your airline to determine the status of your flight,” the airport advised in a post on X. (REUTERS)
One parent with small children said that they were waiting to board a nine-hour flight from Buenos Aires in Argentina to Houston.
“Still no news of this worldwide outage!” the person wrote on X. “We are here waiting here in Buenos Aires, Argentina! Kids tired and we’re ready to take a 9 hours flight to Houston to then take a connection flight!”
Another person said they had been waiting on a United plane for over two and a half hours, while passenger Joshua Rivera said he was waiting on the tarmac for over an hour at Newark.
“We’ve been stuck on the tarmac at EWR for over an hour after landing early, and there are crying babies on board with parents unable to do much to comfort them,” Rivera posted on X. “To make matters worse, the updates from United’s text messages, the crew announcements on the plane, and what’s being posted on X all contradict each other – nothing matches and it feels like we’re being misled. We can see our gate and ground crew, but are waiting for the all clear to finally move to the gate.”
It was a similar story for passengers at Denver International. “Got married on Saturday, and this is my trip home,” Josh Griffin complained on X to the airline. “Thanks for being our second memorable experience of the week.”
“My departure is now 4hrs late with no resolution in site and we are prisoners on the tarmac,” said another passenger.