LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A global technology outage is impacting casinos, hospitals, banks, and airports Friday. It’s affected thousands of flights across the country and worldwide. Harry Reid International Airport has had more than 100 delayed or canceled flights in the past 24 hours.
“We got in the plane and 30 minutes later the pilot said there’s going to be a 30-minute delay. Then he made an announcement that everyone had to deplane,” one passenger told 8NewsNow.
Some frustrated travelers have been at the airport through the night waiting to hear when their flights will be rescheduled.
Another traveler said all the airline passengers scheduled on his flight were given a piece of paper with a phone number to call.
“She gave it to a hundred people so we’re all going to call and get nothing ’cause that’s what happened. You got a busy signal or the phone kept ringing,” he said he is now planning to take a bus to California.
Some travelers did receive news about rescheduled flights.
“I’m booked 27 hours from now to get on the next flight,” Jill Bosman said.
Normally, the airport deals with around 500 flights a day and millions of passengers every month.
The outage is linked to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm, and is believed to have been caused by a faulty update deployed to computers running Microsoft Windows. Cybersecurity reports a fix is currently in the works.
The FAA released the following statement:
“The FAA is closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines. Several airlines have requested FAA assistance with ground stops for their fleets until the issue is resolved.”
Tammy Jones, FAA
Major U.S. airlines like Delta, United, and American Airlines grounded their flights globally and other carriers have seen disruptions. Travelers might want to check this link for arrival and departure information.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
