United Airlines passengers have experienced delays after a “technology issue” saw flights grounded for several hours on Wednesday.
The issue, which began at 5:12 p.m. CT / 6:12 p.m. ET / 3:12 p.m. PT, saw flights stopped in San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Newark, and Houston, according to Reuters which cited the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s website. As the news outlet reported, flight tracker FlightAware calculated that over 1,000 United flights were delayed on Wednesday.
Passengers have reported lengthy waits sitting on the runway, baggage claim delays, and flight availability pushed days ahead. United’s X team has been responding to many of these social media posts to explore options.
“We are working with customers to get them to their destinations after a technology disruption on Wednesday evening,” United told Mashable in a press statement. “The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and, while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations.”
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United posted two updates to X around 8 p.m. ET acknowledging the “system error” and requesting passengers send their flight confirmation numbers via DM.
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According to The New York Times, United said the outage was not a cybersecurity problem but one connected to a system called Unimatic, which houses flight information and is integrated into multiple systems including flight time calculators.
The Federal Aviation Administration posted on X around 10 p.m. ET that it was working with United to solve the issue.
“We’re aware United experienced a technology issue disrupting their operations. Some delays may continue as they work through the recovery process,” the FAA’s post reads. “We’ve offered full support to help address their flight backlog and remain in close contact with United.”
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For now, if you’re a passenger who’s been affected by the delays, it seems your best bet is to reach out to United on X via DMs with your confirmation number and email address for assistance. You can also head to United’s website to use the chatbot or call an agent, or you can text “UNITED” to 32050 for United Customer Service.
