A major outage from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has affected airports around the world, grounding flights and throwing the aviation industry into chaos.
“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz wrote on X Friday morning. “This is not a security incident or cyberattack.”
As airlines in the U.S. try to deal with the problem, here are their statements on the incident and what they’re telling customers to do as they try to deal with disruptions to the travel plans.
United Airlines
“A third-party software outage impacted computer systems worldwide, including at United,” an alert on the airline’s website says. “We are resuming some flights but expect schedule disruptions to continue throughout Friday.”
Customers who booked flights out of 13 airports listed here can get a new United flight departing until July 25 without incurring a change fee.
American Airlines
“Earlier this morning, a widespread technology issue with a vendor impacted multiple airlines, including American,” a statement on the airline’s website says. “Our teams have been working diligently to resolve the issue with the vendor and take care of our customers.
“As of 5 a.m. ET, we were able to safely reestablish our operation. We expect there will be impact to our flight schedule today, including delays and cancellations.
“American will notify customers whose flight plans are affected via the American Airlines app or text message. Please continue to check the American Airlines app or aa.com for the latest on flight statuses.”
Customers flying out of 11 airports listed here can rebook the American flights until July 25 without incurring a change fee.
Delta Air Lines
About an hour after saying that it had paused operations, Delta came back with an update that said “Delta has resumed some flight departures after a vendor technology issue impacted several airlines and businesses around the world. That issue necessitated a pause in Delta’s global flight schedule this morning while it was addressed. Additional delays and cancelations are expected Friday.”
A waiver explainer on the Delta website says that any Delta customer can rebook their flight until July 24 without incurring a change fee or a difference in fare if booked in the same class. Travel rebooked for after July 24 might still have some fare differences, but the change fee will still be waived.
Spirit Airlines
“A third-party vendor is experiencing a global technical outage that is affecting Spirit’s reservations system and Airport systems, impacting flight operations,” an advisory on the airline’s website says. “If your flight is cancelled, you have the option to receive a refund, reservation credit, or to be rebooked on another Spirit flight. If your flight has been delayed by more than 2 hours, you can be rebooked on another Spirit flight, or receive a reservation credit or a refund if you do not wish to fly.”
Spirit says that “impacted Guests will not be eligible for hotel accommodations, ground transportation, meal vouchers, air transportation on other carriers or sleeping arrangements at the airport.”
The airline also says that any customer flying Friday or Saturday can rebook their flight for anytime through July 27 without paying for any difference in fare.