Global IT outage: Ai-Ai delas Alas, Dessa among Filipinos stranded at US airports

Travelers gather near the United Airlines counters at Reagan National Airport on Friday, July 19, 2024, in Arlington, Va. A global technology outage caused by a faulty software update grounded flights, knocked banks and media outlets offline, and disrupted hospitals, small businesses and other services on Friday, highlighting the fragility of a digitized world dependent on just a handful of providers. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

NEW YORK CITY — A global IT outage occurred Friday, causing widespread disruptions in travel and communications.

The glitch, linked to cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft’s cloud computing services, grounded flights by major airlines in several countries and led to delays at airports, hospitals and media broadcasters.

Although Microsoft announced the issue had been fixed, outages have persisted. What was supposed to be a routine software update has turned into the largest global information technology outage in history.

In New York, the outage brought flights, banks, media outlets and companies to a standstill, leaving travelers stranded at JFK and LaGuardia airports.

Users reported seeing blue error screens on their computers. CrowdStrike stated this was “not a security incident or cyberattack.”

“This is not a cyberattack, although it could lead to one,” Sherwin Reyes, the Fil-Am senior IT engineer who runs the New York City website, told INQUIRER.net USA. “The issue was that CrowdStrike made a mistake, causing computer systems to lock up or shut down Microsoft systems within hospitals, airports, government systems, financial institutions and educational systems that use Microsoft and CrowdStrike together.”

Reyes emphasized the city’s resiliency and the diversity of technologies and security measures to compensate for this type of outage. “Our Microsoft division, like all major organizations that rely heavily on Microsoft, is at the mercy of these vendors. Our IT staff are working to fix the problem manually as directed, but organizations with limited staff are more affected due to the nature of the manual repair process.”

How can we prevent this from happening again?

“The mitigators of this problem will have to be driven by our technology leaders and their global standards. The textbook model needs to be revised to learn from this mistake,” Reyes said.

Screens show a blue error message at a departure floor of LaGuardia Airport in New York on Friday, July 19, 2024, after a faulty CrowdStrike update caused a major internet outage for computers running Microsoft Windows. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

On why fixing the glitch is taking longer than usual, Reyes explained, “Imagine a car with a key fob that allows you to start and move the car. The key fob in relation to this outage is CrowdStrike, and the car maker is Microsoft. Just like today, if that key fob is lost, you cannot restart your car or drive it anymore. You would have to take it to the dealer to remove reliance on the key fob. This is what is happening now. That’s why it’s a manual approach and is taking longer than usual.”

“I believe the city is always prepared for this, and we have drills. It’s more of a shift change in position to switch systems from one solution to another. I think improvements can be made in the swiftness of personnel.”

Ai-Ai delas Alas, Dessa stranded at airport

Thousands of passengers reported flight delays caused by the global outage. Among them was Filipino American comedian and singer Ai-Ai delas Alas, who was stranded on her flight from Charlotte to Jacksonville, North Carolina, on Friday. She took to social media to express her disappointment over the delayed flight but was grateful to have her daughter traveling with her.

Image: Ai-Ai delas Alas/Facebook

“Dahil sa software global outage na ito, humiga na lang ako sa sahig sa Charlotte International Airport. Salamat at may dala ako kumot at unan. Salamat sa DIYOS kasama ko ang aking baby girl Sophia delas Alas. Siya ang nag-asikaso ng flight and luggages namin. Techie techie siya. Sabi ko sa kanya kung wala ka iiyak na lang ako.”

Delas Alas said if there’s one thing she has learned from the outage, it is to never travel alone and avoid packing food in checked luggage.

In the end, the actress traveled by land to avoid further delays as she had a show to catch the next day in Jacksonville, NC.

Dessa, another Fil-Am singer based in Las Vegas who is also doing a show on July 20, experienced a delay in her flight to Calgary, Canada. She was stranded at her home airport in Las Vegas for more than eight hours.

Image: Dessa/Facebook

“I’ve been here at the airport since 10 am and the situation here right now is really not good… Kanina pa ako nakapila parang walang nangyayari. Sira ang itinerary ko to Calgary. I’m still trying to fix this if I can. Kakaloka! Of all the days pa talaga!” wrote Dessa on her FB wall.

CNN reports that travel will likely take a while to get back on track, even once the outage is resolved. The stoppage of flights means that thousands of aircraft have been grounded around the world and could be stuck in the wrong airports. The best course of action is to monitor your airline for announcements and to know your rights as a consumer.

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