United Airlines systems outage causes delays globally

Associated Press

Passengers on United Airlines reported long delays after the latest in a long line of technology problems at the nation's biggest carriers.

United said today it had fixed the overnight issue, yet hours later the airline still could not explain what went wrong or even how many flights were canceled or delayed.

Tracking service FlightStats Inc. said in late afternoon that United had canceled 10 flights – not an unusual number – and delayed more than 380. However, those numbers don't include United Express flights, which are outsourced to smaller carriers.

Timing helped United. The outage spanned a late-night period when few U.S. flights were operating, and United reported it was fixed before the wave of morning departures.

United responded on Twitter to passengers who experienced delays or problems with the airline's website. The airline tweeted that it was having problems with its weight-reporting system.

Some passengers traveling late Thursday and early today took to social media to complain about delays as long as six hours.

United spokeswoman Maddie King said that overnight the airline "experienced a system issue causing some flights delays."