CrowdStrike outage: How your plane, train and automobile travel may be affected

The CrowdStrike outage that hit early Friday morning and knocked out computers running Microsoft Windows has grounded flights globally.

Major U.S. airlines including United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have halted flight operations around the world. According to FlightAware, which is tracking the cancellations live, 7% of United Airlines flights, 8% of American Airlines flights and 12% of Delta flights have been canceled. By comparison, the airlines had canceled Thursday 3%, 4% and 1% of flights, respectively. 

FlightAware’s tracker also shows that, as of 11 a.m. ET, nearly 3,000 flights have been canceled today, with total flight delays hitting nearly 28,000. Not all of those cancellations and delays will be linked to the CrowdStrike outage.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who addressed the widespread outage during an interview on CNBC, said that while the issue has been identified, his agency expects a “ripple or cascade effect” to continue today as airlines try to get their systems back to normal.

“These flights, they run so tightly, so back-to-back, that even after a root cause is addressed, you can still be feeling those impacts throughout the day,” said Buttigieg. “I will say we have no indication of an impact to our own systems, in terms of FAA operational systems like air traffic control, or most systems within the U.S. Department of Transportation, but as far as the airlines themselves, we’re going to definitely be expecting more there.”

Buttigieg also noted that shipping ports have been affected due to issues at gates letting trucks in and out. Local California news reported that at Long Beach and Los Angeles ports, shipments were disrupted and delayed amid the outage as hundreds of trucks were stuck waiting for cargo to be released or loaded.

The Federal Aviation Administration posted on X and Facebook that it is closely monitoring the issue, and that several airlines have requested assistance with ground stops until the issue is resolved. A ground stop is an air traffic control measure that slows or halts the flow of an aircraft coming into a given airport. 

“We continue to work closely with airlines as they work to resume normal operations,” wrote the FAA. “Ground stops and delays will be intermittent at various airports as the airlines work through residual technology issues. Contact the airlines for more information.”

According to the FAA’s website, airports like Boston Logan International Airport, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Milwaukee Mitchell International, Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York have closed to “non-scheduled transient general aviation aircraft, or flights that aren’t a part of a regular schedule (like charter or private flights) and aircraft that are just passing through and not based at the airport.”

Airports including Atlanta International, Detroit Metropolitan, Minneapolis Saint-Paul, Salt Lake City International Airport and Henry E. Rohlsen Airport in Saint Croix are experiencing ground delays due to unspecified reasons that could also be linked to the CrowdStrike outage. 

Airlines react to CrowdStrike outage

Virtually every U.S. airline has experienced communications issues due to the CrowdStrike outage, including global airlines such as Qantas, Air France, Ryanair, Air Asia, Air India and others. 

The FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center posted that all United Airlines flights regardless of destination and subs have been grounded due to a communication issue. United posted on X at around 9 a.m. ET that it is resuming some flights, but schedule disruptions may continue. The airline has issued a special waiver to help customers change their travel plans. 

United Airlines also posted on its website that flights going in and out of the following airports today have been affected: Cleveland, OH (CLE); Newark, NJ (EWR); Frankfurt, Germany (FRA); Guam (GUM); Honolulu, HI (HNL); Washington, D.C. (IAD); Houston, TX (IAH); Los Angeles, CA (LAX); London, Great Britain (LHR); Orlando, FL (MCO); Chicago, IL (ORD); San Francisco, CA (SFO). 

A United spokesperson told TechCrunch that the issue affected many separate systems, including those used for calculating aircraft weight, checking in customers and phone systems at the airline’s call centers.

Frontier Airlines, an American ultra low-cost carrier, was also affected, but appears to have resumed, or is in the process of resuming, normal flight operations. Spirit Airlines, another budget airline, said the outage is impacting its reservations system and flight operations. 

“Due to the outage, we are currently unable to rebook Guests whose travel plans have been disrupted. We will assist these Guests as soon as possible when our vendor restores service,” Spirit posted on Facebook.

American Airlines also confirmed that a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. The airline said as of 5 a.m. ET it has been able to “safely re-establish our operation.” However, current social media posts still show customers whose flights are canceled or continue to be delayed. 

As of 7:49 a.m. ET, Delta said that it has also resumed some flight departures, but that additional delays and cancellations are expected Friday. Delta said it would waive the difference in fares for customers who booked flights departing Friday. 

According to a ground delay alert from the FAA, Delta flights departing for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are seeing an average delay of 374 minutes at the time of this writing. The delay affects departures from 30 airlines across the U.S. and Canada. 

Citi analyst Stephen Trent said that because the outage wasn’t the fault of the airlines themselves, he doesn’t believe there will be penalties for flight cancellations. 

“Today’s disruption should not have a material earnings impact as ​long as significant improvements continue throughout the day,” Trent said. 

Consumer rights

Most of the airlines with delayed or canceled flights are working on ways to help customers rebook their flights. United, American and Delta, as well as others, are waiving any differences in fare when booking a new flight. Airlines also told the DOT that they’d provide meals for customer delayed by three hours and hotel rooms for customers that have to wait overnight for a new flight if prompted by issues under an airlines’ control, according to Reuters.

Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of air passenger rights company AirHelp, said that passengers who have been affected by delays and cancellations should understand their rights and know what options are available to them during disruptions.

“Although this incident is beyond the control of airlines and airports, passengers still have certain rights under U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations,” Pawliszyn told TechCrunch. “The passengers are entitled to assistance from the airline. This can include rebooking on the next available flight and, in some cases, meal vouchers and accommodation if the delay extends overnight.”

Pawliszyn noted that the “right to care” is for all delays above two hours. He recommends that passengers retain all boarding passes and receipts for any expenses incurred during the delay, such as food, drink and accommodation, to facilitate any potential reimbursement claims

Trains largely unaffected by CrowdStrike outage

Most trains appear to be unaffected by the outage, including Amtrak, but some apps for managing train times are down. The New York City public transit system, the MTA, is still running, but the MTA app that shows subway and bus scheduling and route planning is down. 

Washington, D.C.’s Metro public transit system, however, was affected by the outage. As of 5:45 am ET, the service said that all Metrorail stations opened on time and service is running as scheduled. Buses are also operating as scheduled. 

Auto industry mildly affected

The outage has affected businesses around the world, including retailers, brokerage houses, media companies and more.

Automakers GM and Ford told TechCrunch their manufacturing operations were not affected by the outage and that their consumer-facing apps, which owners use to unlock and lock their vehicles and control other information, are working as normal. OnStar, the GM subsidiary that handles in-vehicle communications including emergency services, is also working as normal. 

Some automotive suppliers have been affected by the outage, including Magna, which is experiencing “varying levels of operational disruptions,” according to the company.

“Our dedicated IT teams are working closely with all effected providers to expedite recovery and ensure continuity of service across our locations,” Magna spokesperson Tracy Fuerst said in an email.  “We have also been in close contact with our customers and suppliers to mitigate any potential impact.”

Fuerst added that due to the quick response of its global IT team and providers the majority of its operations are now running. “We are getting closer to more stability which is expected yet today still,” she said.

CrowdStrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, confirmed that a defect in a software update for Windows hosts caused the outage. He ruled out a cyberattack, adding that the firm was rolling out a fix and that Mac and Linux hosts were not affected. 

This story is developing but was originally published at 8:22 a.m. PT. Check back in for updates.