Travelers nationwide faced disruptions yesterday as United Airlines grappled with a "technology disruption" that prompted a ground stop of its mainline flights across multiple airports, including key hubs like Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Click2Houston reports that the issue, which originated at around 5:12 p.m., led to a halt of United Airlines departures as the airline worked to resolve an underlying technology issue related to its Unimatic system, crucial for calculating critical flight details such as weight, balance, and tracking flight times.
At around 9 p.m., the airline announced that the problem had been resolved, but not before impacting major United hubs in Denver, Houston, San Francisco, and Newark as well. Despite flights resuming, passengers experienced significant delays, and a ripple effect was felt as even the United Express' regional flights were delayed due to increased traffic at affected airports. As per a CBS News report, this hold-up resulted in backups at various airports, with footage from O'Hare showing a lineup of United planes on the tarmac, grounded in anticipation of gate availability.
United Airlines issued a statement saying, "We are working with customers to get them to their destinations after a technology disruption on Wednesday evening. The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and, while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations," as reported by CBS News. Passengers affected by the delays have been informed by the airline that they can reschedule their trips without incurring change fees or fare differences, provided the rebooked flights depart within the specified time frame and remain within the same cities and cabin class as originally booked.
The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged the disruption and offered United assistance in managing the backlog of flights. Additionally, the issue was confirmed to be internal to United and not connected to the broader air traffic control system or related to recent cybersecurity concerns within the airline industry. Late into the evening, Chicago O'Hare reported average departure delays of two hours, as confirmed by Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy in a statement obtained by CBS News.
In the meantime, United has taken steps to mitigate customer inconvenience by deeming the delays preventable, indicating that the airline will cover expenses like hotels when applicable for those stranded by the technology failure. This concession may offer some solace to travelers as the company scrambles to return to routine operations and clear the late-night logjam of aircraft across the country.
