LAX, Amtrak, ports among those impacted by global tech outage

Travelers at Los Angeles International Airport sleep in a jetway for a delayed United Airlines flight to Dulles International Airport due to a widespread global outage early Friday, July 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Stefanie Dazio)

LOS ANGELES – A massive global technology outage caused by a botched cybersecurity firm software update knocked out computer systems across the Southland and around the world Friday, leading to delayed and canceled flights at local airports, disruptions at the LA/Long Beach ports and headaches for other computer-dependent operations.

Departing flights from Los Angeles International Airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport and Long Beach Airport were temporarily grounded after the airlines asked the Federal Aviation Administration for a ground stop on all flights, according to an alert from the FAA.

Flights at John Wayne Airport in Orange County did not have a ground stop, but there were sporadic cancellations and delays Friday.

The FAA is working closely with airlines impacted by a global IT issue. This timelapse depicts air traffic recovering after airlines requested FAA assistance with ground stops this morning. Contact your airline for more info and monitor https://t.co/smgdqJN3td. pic.twitter.com/inRTK6ovTI

— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) July 19, 2024

The flight-tracking website FlightAware reported nearly 2,500 cancellations of flights within, into or out of the United States as of midday Friday, along with nearly 8,000 delays. The site reported 56 cancellations of flights originating at LAX.

FAA officials said they were “working with airlines to closely monitor the global IT issue that could continue to affect flights this weekend.”

LAX spokeswoman Dae Levine told City News Service Friday morning, “We are seeing some delays from United, Delta and American Airlines. Our communications center is in constant communications with the FAA.”

American Airlines issued a statement saying, “We’re aware of a technical issue with CrowdStrike that is impacting multiple carriers. American is working with CrowdStrike to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”

CrowdStrike is a US cybersecurity company that has admitted to being responsible for the error and is working to correct it.

“A third party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United,” United Airlines said in a statement on Friday morning. “While we work to restore those systems, we are holding all aircraft at their departure airports. Flights already airborne are continuing to their destinations.”

American Airlines issued a statement at 2 a.m. Friday that they were back up and running as normal.

“Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” the statement read.

The technology outage affected systems worldwide, with issues reported at Berlin Airport in Germany, the London Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said in a statement the outage was “not a security or cyber incident.”

“We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption,” he said. “We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on. As noted earlier, the issue has been identified and a fix has been deployed.”

Meanwhile, Microsoft said it is investigating the extent of the outage.

“We’re investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services,” Microsoft said in a statement released on social media Friday morning.

Shipments at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are being disrupted and delayed. KNX reported that hundreds of trucks have been waiting for hours for cargo to be released and loaded.

Amtrak reported the outage was preventing credit card transactions for its Pacific Surfliner service. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPay payments can be used to complete online reservations.

Metrolink advised customers Friday morning that the outage was impacting its smartphone app, warning that “passengers may experience issues when using the app or when purchasing tickets.” The issue was resolved by late morning.

Los Angeles Superior Court officials reported that they were “experiencing significant system-wide connectivity issues” that were impacting the court’s operations. Hearings scheduled for Friday that involved remote appearances were all postponed, and parties were being notified of new dates.

The Orange County Fire Authority reported that the outage “temporarily” affected some of the agency’s internal systems, but emergency response was unaffected.

The Los Angeles Police Department and Fire Department operations “have not been impacted at this time,” according to a statement from Zach Seidel, deputy mayor of communications. He said Mayor Karen Bass has been in contact with officials at Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that oversees LAX, and they are “working actively to resolve travel issues.”

“Travelers at LAX and other regional airports should plan ahead for potential delays,” Seidel said.

Even coffee giant Starbucks was affected, with its online ordering system going down Friday morning. (CNS)