CNN
—
More than 1,000 U.S. flights have been canceled for a third straight day as airlines struggle to recover from the impact of a global technology outage that left thousands of passengers stranded at airports.
As of early Sunday afternoon, more than 1,200 flights in and out of the United States had been canceled, while more than 5,000 U.S. flights were delayed, according to tracking website FlightAware.com.
The website shows that more than 600 of the flight cancellations were caused by Delta Airlines.
Delta Air Lines said on Sunday it was continuing recovery efforts after “technical issues with an external vendor” caused flight delays and cancellations. The airline said it is communicating directly with some affected customers to offer travel coupons, waivers and SkyMiles miles.
On Saturday, 2,136 flights were canceled and more than 21,300 flights were delayed in the United States, according to FlightAware.
The problem is not limited to airports, as businesses, government agencies, health and emergency services, banks, schools and universities around the world have been brought to a standstill or have their services disrupted due to a flaw in a software update for the Microsoft Windows operating system released by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. told CNN.
According to Microsoft, the outage affected approximately 8.5 million Windows devices.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized to customers and said a fix had been deployed, but experts said getting the system back to normal would be a long process.
All major airlines say service is resuming, but more delays and disruptions are likely.
Most of United's systems have recovered from Friday's outage, but some delays and cancellations are still possible, the airline said in a statement. More than 400 United flights were canceled on Saturday and more than 200 on Sunday, according to FlightAware.com.
Delta Air Lines announced over the weekend that it has suspended travel for unaccompanied minors until Wednesday due to the power outage. Unaccompanied children already booked on Delta flights will not be able to travel, and the airline has asked that they not be booked on new flights.
View this interactive content on CNN.com
Also affected is American Airlines, which said in a statement on Friday that “we are able to safely resume operations” and that it “issued travel exemptions for customers who were affected by a technical issue with the supplier earlier this morning. .Allegiant Air said in a statement. Saturday statement While “normal operations have resumed” following the outage, they are working through a backlog of customer messages and troubleshooting programs and platforms.
David Kennedy, co-founder of cybersecurity company Binary Defense, told CNN on Saturday that even if the defective computer update is rolled back, it won't be a quick fix for airlines because they are Thousands of gates have computers that require individual manual reboots.
“It's not just a restart. There are many more steps and complexities involved,” Kennedy said. “There just aren't enough people in those airports, in those locations, to do it.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation said on Friday it had determined that flight delays and cancellations caused by the system outage were “controllable,” meaning they are “attributable to the airlines.” In this case, the airline “must adhere to its customer service commitments”.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on social media on Saturday that he had received reports that some airlines were only offering flight credits to passengers who canceled their flights.
“Let me be clear – if your flight is canceled and you are not rebooked, you have the right to get your money back immediately,” Buttigieg said.
Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
On July 20, 2024, a passenger waited in the check-in area of Gatwick Airport in Horley, south London. Some flights were canceled or delayed.
As flight cancellations persist at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world's busiest airport, officials have implemented a “concession crisis plan to ensure concessions are available on all flight operations.”
“We have provided assistance and guidance to travelers staying overnight at the airport, and we are working with airlines to create space for unified baggage areas,” an airport spokesperson told CNN on Sunday.
“No one seemed to care about us. We were sleeping on the floor. The children were sleeping on the floor,” traveler Anthony Augugliaro told CNN affiliate WSB on Sunday. No one took any action.
Passengers also queued at the airport on Saturday, waiting for rescue. Delta passenger Catalina Villarreal described the scene: “Chaos. Confusion. Frustration. Hungry.
Villarreal said she experienced three flight cancellations.
Charlotte Yeh, a traveler at Boston's Logan International Airport, told CNN affiliate WFXT on Saturday that she had not received notice that her flight to Fort Lauderdale to celebrate her father's 96th birthday was canceled.
Thousands of people crowded into airports across the country, waiting for answers, faced the same uncertainty.
“I was supposed to go to California for my mom's wedding,” Richard Whitfield of Pasco County, Florida, told CNN on Saturday. Whitfield and his partner, Jonathan Scheider, departed Tampa on Thursday and missed their connecting flight in Atlanta due to poor weather conditions, delaying the landing and forcing the plane to refuel in Tallahassee.
After multiple delays on their rescheduled flight on Friday, the couple decided to cancel their trip and go straight home. But with no flight back to Tampa Friday night, they spent the second night at an airport hotel. They were unable to get a coupon from Delta for both stays.
“(Richard) has been on hold for 24 hours,” Shedd told CNN. “When he finally got in line, the number was 2,001.”
Two hours later, Richard's spot in Delta's virtual customer service queue reached 2,300 people, Shedd said.
Whitfield told CNN the whole ordeal had an impact on him.
“To me, it's the domino effect it has on humans and everything we need to survive: food, sleep or water, shelter,” he said.
After 48 hours in Atlanta, they found a flight back to Tampa on Saturday night and said they could only hope it wasn't delayed or canceled. For now, Shedd and Whitfield said, the couple has no choice but to wait and “have a nice drink.”
