On July 19, 2024, a global technical glitch affected the United Airlines terminal at Los Angeles LAX Airport.
Myung J. Chun Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
Flight cancellations and delays eased on Saturday as airlines struggled to recover from a global IT outage that sparked chaos at airports and other industries a day earlier.
More than 1,200 flights were canceled on Saturday, including more than 900 in the United States, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 5,000 flights were canceled around the world on Friday, with about 3,400 delayed in the United States and more than 12,000 delayed in the United States.
These disruptions are similar to severe weather like winter or tropical storms, but airlines have little time to prepare for disruptions, leaving them scrambling to serve passengers ahead of summer weekends.
A problem with CrowdStrike’s software update caused major outages to Microsoft systems at businesses around the world.
“I’m proud of our teams across the globe who are working around the clock today to safely get our operations back on track and serve our customers after the most disruptive technology outage in history.” United Airlines Chief Operating Officer Toby Enqvist issued a statement late Friday. “While we have had to cancel and delay many more flights than we would have liked, we are prepared to resume near-normal operations on Saturday.”
About 7% of United’s mainline flights were canceled on Saturday, down from 22% on Friday, according to FlightAware. Delta Airlines About 10% of flights were canceled on Saturday, an improvement from 31% the day before.
The airline is waiving fare differences and fees for affected customers.
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