Colossal computer outage at FAA causes day of frustration for fliers
Colossal computer outage at FAA causes day of frustration for fliers
Thousands of flight cancelations and delays today after a colossal computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). At George Bush Intercontinental Airport there have been more than 434 delays Wednesday and 36 cancelations, with greater than 171 delays and 31 cancelations at Hobby.
HOUSTON - Thousands of flight cancelations and delays Wednesday after a colossal computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). After the recent Southwest Airlines debacle, this makes two mass flight disruptions in a little more than two weeks.
At George Bush Intercontinental Airport, there have been more than 434 delays Wednesday and 36 cancelations, with greater than 171 delays and 31 cancelations at Hobby.
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Some with super delayed or canceled flights bought seats on other carriers, breaking the budget by doing so. "First it was 8:00 a.m. then noon," explains passenger Ericka Alvear.
She tells us she was trying to get to Orlando to take her kids to Disney World.
It’s really stressful," says Alvear’s 14-year-old Isabella Hernandez. "I could be in class right now doing work."
"Right now I could be in math class," her little sister Sophia chimes in.
"I mean anything’s better than this, to be honest with you," Alvear said.
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What could have caused such a catastrophic computer issue? The FAA says its trying to figure that out, as a day of frustration for a lot of fliers still isn’t over. There have been more than 2,760 canceled flights across the country and an overwhelming 18,000 delays.
"I’ve been sitting here since about 6:00 this morning," says Kandi Connor who’s a delayed airline passenger at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport. After hours of waiting she and a host of others is still hoping to catch a flight out after morning flights were canceled, leading to thousands of delays and ever-changing departure times.
"It went from noon to 2:00 to 10:00 tonight. (Now they’re telling you the flight is going to leave at 10:00?) 10 o’clock, yes. 10:00 p.m.," Connor adds.
An overnight outage of the Federal Aviation Administration's Notice to Air Missions System caused flights across America and even some around the world that were headed into the U.S. to be grounded.
"I’m coming From Lima, Peru. They told us the computers were not working in the whole United States," says Mirko Castillo.
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"We actually came back from Jamaica, a friend’s birthday party," explains Brandon and Brandy Dixon.
The FAA system that went down provides safety information to flight crews, such as alerting pilots about closed runways. By Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. planes were slowly getting off the ground again.
"It’s pretty frustrating," Connor explains. "I mean, I’ve been sitting here. I worked 14 hours last night."
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"We were very worried about getting stuck. I was prepared to rent a car and drive," says Mrs. Dixon.
The White House Press Secretary says there's no evidence of a cyberattack. You may want to double-check your flight before heading to the airport.