Computer failure strands thousands in US

The airline announced on Twitter shortly after 1 a.m. CDT (0600 GMT) Saturday that its computer systems were up and running, about five hours after the systems went down, stranding some passengers overnight and forcing long waits in crowded terminals.

The airline blamed the problem on “a network connectivity issue” and said it was in the process of resuming normal operations early Saturday morning. But the airline also indicated passengers may experience some delays for the rest of the weekend.

“While we will be experiencing some residual effect on our flight operations throughout the weekend, United is committed to restoring normal operations as soon as possible,” Alexandria Marren, senior vice president of system operations control for United, said in a written statement.

The airline apologized to its customers and said it was rebooking passengers as needed.

As a result of the outage, long lines of passengers formed at airports in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago.

The plans of landscape designer Stephanie Hochman, 26, of Denver, to fly to Wichita, Kansas, to visit her family were stymied.

“I was rushing, because I was running a little late,” she said. “I kept checking computers to see if the flight was still on time. I thought it was all good, until I got to the airport and saw the people standing around at the checkout counter.”

Later, staff at Denver International Airport made an announcement over the loudspeakers, saying computers were slowly coming online. A flight to Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport was being prepared for departure.

At United's terminal at San Francisco Airport, well over 1,000 people were standing around as lines slowly began to move. Some took it better than others.

Pippa Davis, 50, of Christchurch, New Zealand, was on her way to Manchester, New Hampshire, with her 11-year-old daughter, Fritha. She said they recently had earthquakes at home, including one that damaged her house.

“I think this is kind of funny, really,” she said. “We're in line, but it's not for food or water.”

“It's OK. We'll survive,” Davis added.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email