Global technology outage disrupts flights, commerce

A worldwide technology outage caused by a faulty cybersecurity software update disrupted Southern California airports, shipping ports and other computer-dependent operations.

Departing flights from Los Angeles International Airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport and Long Beach Airport were temporarily grounded after 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 and Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County did not have ground stops, but there were sporadic cancellations and delays Friday.

FAA officials were “working with airlines to closely monitor the global IT issue that could continue to affect flights this weekend,” according to an agency post on X.

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.”

An American Airlines statement said, “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.”

George Kurtz, CEO of Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike, said in an X post early Friday the company “is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted.”

Kurtz said the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.

“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” he continued. “We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”

In a statement on Friday morning United Airlines said, “A third party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United. 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 worldwide computer crash affected systems at Berlin Airport in Germany, the London Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom, according to published reports.

Microsoft officials said on social media Friday morning they “are investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”

Shipping activity at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was disrupted and delayed. KNX reported that hundreds of trucks were waiting for hours for cargo to be released and loaded.

Around 9:45 a.m. Friday the Port of Los Angeles announced “all container terminal gates clear after CrowdStrike/Microsoft global outage.”

Amtrak reported the outage put a halt to credit card transactions for its Pacific Surfliner train, requiring customers to use Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPay to complete online reservations.

Metrolink’s smartphone app was impacted, prompting LA Metro to warn that “passengers may experience issues when using the app or when purchasing tickets.”

Los Angeles Superior Court officials said they were “experiencing significant system-wide connectivity issues” that were affecting court operations. Hearings scheduled for Friday involving remote appearances were all postponed and rescheduled.

The Orange County Fire Authority reported that the outage temporarily affected some internal systems, but emergency response was not hindered.

The Los Angeles police and fire departments’ operations “have not been impacted at this time,” city spokesman Zach Seidel said in a statement Friday.

“The Mayor’s Office and City Departments have been assessing impacts since late last night and will continue to monitor and address issues that arise,” Seidel said. He added that Mayor Karen Bass has been in touch 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.”

Even Starbucks was affected when the global coffee retailer’s online ordering system went down Friday morning, according to published reports. Telecommunications providers and media broadcasters also lost access to computer systems and experienced computer shutdowns.

City News Service contributed to this report.