NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) — Hurry up and wait. That was the routine Wednesday for thousands of United Airlines passengers. A systemwide malfunction delayed takeoffs and put other flights in holding patterns due to an undisclosed technical malfunction that led to a systemwide outage across all United flights.
Doug, a Detroit resident, sat at Newark Liberty International Airport searching for last-minute hotel accommodations.
“I raced to the airport. Maybe I can get out at 11:30 tonight, arriving at 1. Probably not. So I’m now finding a hotel through Travelocity, changing the flights, getting a new car, all that good stuff,” Doug said.
United Airlines officials told PIX11 News the problem was relatively short-lived.
“A technology issue impacted our operation this afternoon, but has since been resolved. Flights are departing and we are working diligently to get customers to their destinations,” a spokesperson said.
But as was the case during previous outages, it doesn’t take long for one small issue to ripple throughout the rest of the schedule, especially when you add the prospect of bad weather to the flight equation.
“We came to the airport and our flights were canceled to Ottawa. And now we’re trying to get back, maybe tomorrow. [I’m] a little frustrated,” said Alexa, who was trying to travel back to Canada.
