Air travel can be infuriating. If it’s not a baby throwing up on the back of your head (happened), then it’s the flight attendants running out of Ginger Ale (also happened). But if there’s anything more infuriating than babies and lack of refreshments, it’s delays. And especially delays due to a computer malfunction. Today, United has stressed thousands of people out by grounding all their flights due to a glitch in their system.
According to CNN Money, almost 5,000 flights were grounded after a “network connectivity issue” that occurred this morning. According to Homeland Security, there was no hacking involved and the grounding had nothing to do with the computer issue that happened at the New York Stock Exchange this morning. (I, for one, will always blame Skynet for both of these issues, however.)
From CNN Money:
The computer problem in the airline’s reservation system caused the FAA to impose what is known as a ground stop at 8:26 a.m. ET, meaning United flights were not allowed to take off. It lifted the stop for feeder airlines that fly under the name United Express about 15 minutes later, but it took until just before 9:47 a.m. for the ground stop to be lifted for United flights.
While flights have resumed, it’s unlikely that everyone flying will get to their destination on time, or even today. Passengers are missing connecting flights, United’s offering those who can switch their travel dates free rescheduling, and, at least for some time, the airline was issuing handwritten tickets to passengers, something that might be considered a security issue, because employees couldn’t check if passengers were on the “no fly” list.
Experts are suggesting that airlines need to beef up their computer systems and update their software so it’s not a “cobbled together” mess. Passengers, however, have been much less kind. One outraged flyer on Twitter even compared United to The Three Stooges.
All #UnitedAirlines flights in U.S. are grounded, but they’ve got their best people working on it. #United pic.twitter.com/TMLeViajVC
— MrJM (@MisterJayEm) July 8, 2015
(via CNN Money)