Worldwide technology outage causing major headaches for airlines, other businesses: Travel Weekly

A widespread technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off air on Friday in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted dependence on software from a handful of providers.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. He said the problems were created for Windows users of its tools by a recent update.

The outage created disruptions for airlines and airports around the world.

More than 300 flights were delayed and more than 100 flights were canceled so far on Friday at the three major airports in the New York city area — JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty in New Jersey, according to airline tracker Flight Aware.

The city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority said regional train and bus service hasn’t been affected but advised travelers not to head to the airport unless their flight status is confirmed.

United Airlines said the outage was impacting its computer systems and warned customers of potential flight delays. The carrier said some flights are resuming and it is issuing waivers to make it easier to change travel plans within its website.

Eurowings says it had to cancel German domestic flights as well as services to and from the U.K. on Friday. The budget subsidiary of Lufthansa said that its check-in and boarding processes were impaired by the computer disruption. The airline called on people traveling inside Germany to book a train ticket and submit it for reimbursement.

Several low-cost airlines in South Korea reported problems, triggering delays in passenger boardings at Incheon international Airport, the country’s biggest airport. Jeju Air Co. said it was experiencing problems with ticketing and other services on its website. Air Premia Inc. said key services on its website, such as ticket bookings, cancellations and online check-ins, were not working. The website of Eastar Jet Co. wasn’t accessible as of early Friday evening.

The automated border control system at Bangkok’s two airports have been affected by the tech outage, according to
Kerati Kijmanawat, president of Thailand’s airport authorities.

The ground operation of several airlines at six major Thai airports has also been disrupted, he added. He encouraged passengers to come to the airports at least 4 hours before their departure time.

Airports in Singapore and Malaysia were also reporting similar issues, with long queues and passengers worried about missing their flights due to the long check-in process.