CNN —
More than 1,000 US flights have been cancelled for a third straight day as airlines struggle to recover from a global technical outage that left thousands of passengers stranded in airports.
By early Sunday afternoon, more than 1,200 flights to and from the United States had been canceled and more than 5,000 flights within the U.S. were delayed, according to tracking website FlightAware.com.
More than 600 of those cancellations were due to Delta Airlines, according to its website.
Delta Air Lines said on Sunday it was continuing recovery efforts following a “technical issue with an outside vendor” that caused delays and cancellations, and that it was contacting some affected customers directly to offer them travel vouchers, waivers and SkyMiles program miles.
According to FlightAware, 2,136 U.S. flights were canceled and more than 21,300 were delayed on Saturday.
The problem extends beyond airports, with flawed software updates for the Microsoft Windows operating system issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike causing outages or disruptions to businesses, government agencies, health and emergency services, banks, schools and universities around the world, experts told CNN.
According to Microsoft, the outage affected an estimated 8.5 million Windows devices.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized to customers and said a fix had been distributed, but experts said it would be a lengthy process to get systems back to normal.
Major airlines say services are being restored but that further delays and disruptions are possible.
United Airlines said in a statement that most of its systems have been restored from Friday’s outage, but delays and cancellations are still possible. More than 400 United flights were canceled on Saturday and another 200 were canceled on Sunday, according to FlightAware.com.
Delta Air Lines announced over the weekend that it was suspending travel for unaccompanied minors until Wednesday because of the outage. Unaccompanied children already booked on Delta flights will not be able to travel, and the airline is asking people not to book new flights for them.
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American Airlines was also affected, and the airline said in a statement on Friday that it was “able to safely resume operations” and had “issued travel waivers for customers impacted by the vendor’s technology issue early this morning.” Allegiant Airlines Saturday’s statement Following the outage, the company has “resume[ed]normal operations” but is still processing a backlog of messages from customers and troubleshooting its programs and platform.
David Kennedy, co-founder of cybersecurity firm Binary Defense, told CNN on Saturday that even if the flawed computer update is reverted, it won’t be a quick fix for airlines, which have computers at thousands of gates that must be rebooted individually and manually.
“It’s not as simple as just restarting it. There are a lot of steps and complexities involved,” Kennedy said. “Airports and hubs just don’t have the manpower to do it.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation said Friday that it has determined that flight delays and cancellations caused by system failures are “controllable,” meaning “the airline is responsible.” In such cases, airlines “must uphold their customer service commitments.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a social media post on Saturday that he had received reports that some airlines were only offering flight credits to passengers on canceled flights.
“Let me be clear: if your flight is canceled and you don’t rebook, you are entitled to an immediate refund,” Buttigieg said.
Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
Passengers wait in the check-in area at Gatwick Airport in Horley, south London, on July 20, 2024, as some flights have been cancelled or delayed.
Flights continue to be canceled at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, and officials have implemented a “discount fare contingency plan to make discounted fares available while all flights are operating.”
“We are providing assistance and guidance to passengers spending the night at the airport and working with airlines to free up space in baggage reconsolidation areas,” an airport spokesperson told CNN on Sunday.
“It seems like no one cares about us. We’re sleeping on the floor. Our kids are sleeping on the floor and no one is doing anything,” tourist Anthony Augliaro told CNN affiliate WSB on Sunday.
Long lines of passengers continued to form at the airport on Saturday as they waited for help, with Delta passenger Catalina Villarreal describing the scenes as “panic. chaos. frustration. hunger.”
Villarreal said he has had three flights canceled.
Charlotte Yeh, a traveler at Boston Logan International Airport, told CNN affiliate WFXT on Saturday that she had not received any notice that her flight to Fort Lauderdale to celebrate her father’s 96th birthday had been canceled.
Thousands of people packed into airports across the country are facing the same anxiety as they wait for answers.
“We were supposed to be going to California for my mother’s wedding,” Richard Whitfield, of Pasco County, Florida, told CNN on Saturday. Whitfield and his partner, Jonathan Shade, left Tampa on Thursday but missed their connecting flight in Atlanta due to bad weather, which delayed the landing and forced the plane to refuel in Tallahassee.
After their rescheduled flight for Friday was delayed multiple times, the couple decided to cancel the trip and fly home. But because there were no flights back to Tampa on Friday night, they spent a second night in an airport hotel. They weren’t able to get a voucher from Delta for either stay.
“[Richard]was on hold for 24 hours,” Shade told CNN. “When he finally got his number it was 2,001.”
Two hours later, Richards was 2,300th in Delta’s virtual customer service queue, Shade said.
Whitfield told CNN that the whole incident had an impact on him.
“To me, it’s the domino effect it has on humanity and everything we need to survive: food, sleep, water, shelter,” he said.
After 48 hours in Atlanta, they found a flight back to Tampa for Saturday evening, but they’re hoping the flight isn’t delayed or canceled. For now, Shade and Whitfield say all the couple can do is wait and “have a good drink.”
