“Tech Outage Strands Thousands: Airlines Scramble to Recover”
More than 1,500 US flights have been canceled for the third consecutive day as airlines struggle to recover from a global tech outage, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports.
By Sunday evening, approximately 1,600 flights into, within, or out of the United States were canceled, with over 8,500 US flights delayed, according to FlightAware.com. Delta Air Lines accounted for more than 1,000 of these cancellations.
Delta Air Lines is continuing its recovery efforts following “an outside vendor technology issue,” which caused significant delays and cancellations, the airline stated on Sunday. Delta is directly communicating with affected customers, offering travel vouchers, waivers, and SkyMiles Program miles.
In an update to customers on Sunday afternoon, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian assured that their teams are working to restore the system and resume normal operations. “Canceling a flight is always a last resort, and something we don’t take lightly,” Bastian said.
On Saturday, 2,136 flights across multiple carriers were canceled, and over 21,300 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware.
The outage, traced back to a software update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike for Microsoft Windows operating systems, extended beyond airports. It disrupted businesses, government agencies, health and emergency services, banks, schools, and universities worldwide. Microsoft estimated that 8.5 million Windows devices were affected.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized and stated that a fix had been deployed. However, experts predict a lengthy recovery process. Major airlines report that services are being restored, though further delays and disruptions are expected.
United Airlines announced that most of its systems had recovered, but some delays and cancellations remain possible. Over 400 United flights were canceled on Saturday, with more than 200 canceled on Sunday.
Delta has paused unaccompanied minor travel until Wednesday due to the outage. The airline asked that no new flights be booked for unaccompanied minors until then.
American Airlines and Allegiant Air also reported disruptions. American Airlines issued a travel waiver for affected customers, while Allegiant Air resumed normal operations but is addressing a backlog of customer messages and troubleshooting issues.
David Kennedy, cofounder of cybersecurity company Binary Defense, explained that resolving the issue is complex, requiring manual rebooting of computers at thousands of gates. “It’s not just as simple as rebooting. There’s a lot more steps and complexities involved,” Kennedy said.
The US Department of Transportation deemed the flight delays and cancellations as “controllable,” meaning they are attributable to the airlines. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized that passengers are entitled to refunds for canceled flights if they choose not to rebook.
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