United Airlines hit by 2nd massive grounding in 2 months as the carrier integrates Continental.
NEW YORK —
Hundreds of United Airlines flights were delayed Wednesday after the
airline experienced computer problems for the second time in just over a
month.
A
White House spokesman said
President Barack Obama was briefed on the
glitch and that it appeared unrelated to an outage hours later at the
New York Stock Exchange.
"There is no indication at this point either that there is malicious activity involved," said the spokesman, Josh Earnest.
A United spokeswoman said that the glitch was caused by an internal technology issue and not an outside threat or hacker.
Spokeswoman
Jennifer Dohm said that a router problem reduced "network connectivity"
for several software applications. "We fixed the router issue, which is
enabling us to restore normal functions," she said around midday.
The
Federal Aviation Administration lifted a ground-stop order after nearly
two hours, allowing United planes to fly again Wednesday morning. But
delays continued while the airline fought to regain control of its
schedule.
United,
the nation's second-biggest airline, said more than 1,150 flights had
been delayed and about 60 canceled by late afternoon.
United
has had three chief information officers since 2011, with the current
CIO joining last September. It has suffered several technology lapses in
that time, some leading to mass delays and cancellations.
The
airline briefly halted all takeoffs in the U.S. on June 2 because of a
problem in its flight-dispatching system. United said then that about
150 flights were affected.
United
also struggled through a series of computer outages in 2012 after
switching to the passenger-information system of Continental Airlines
after that carrier merged with United. Those outages caused hundreds of
flights to be delayed. High-paying business travelers were outraged;
United CEO Jeff Smisek apologized for failing to provide good customer
service.
After
a 2010 merger, United elected to combine many computer systems and
frequent-flier programs all at once. Executives believed that any
disruptions would thus be short-lived. By contrast, Delta and Northwest
integrated their systems in stages after a 2008 merger, and American
Airlines is taking Delta's same go-slow approach now as it absorbs US
Airways.
Other
airlines, however, have also been hit by computer problems. In April,
more than 50 American flights were delayed when a software glitch
prevented pilots from seeing some airport maps on their tablet
computers.
After
Wednesday's problems, United apologized to customers and said they
could change travel plans without being charged the usual $200
reservation-change fee. In some cases, the airline said it would also
waive any difference in fare for the rescheduled trip.
At
Los Angeles International Airport, Meni Tsirbas arrived an hour early
for his morning flight to Newark, New Jersey. There was already a mob
around the ticketing counter, and plenty of confusion.
"Everything was done by hand," said Tsirbas, an animation director. "We checked one (bag) and it was done '70s style."
Betsy
Fischer Martin's flight to Denver sat on the ground at Dulles Airport
near Washington as the captain gave increasingly dismal updates on the
delay.
At
one point, "The captain said, "Anyone who wants to look at the cockpit
and flight deck is welcome — we have nothing better to do,'" said
Fischer Martin, a journalist. "He made a bad situation a little better."
Gary
Leff, co-founder of frequent-flier website MilePoint, said the
breakdown "underscores the sense that something is very wrong at
United."
"How
could a router bring down one of the world's largest airlines?" asked
Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, who
said it appeared that United lacked enough redundancy in its technology
systems. Still, he doubted that United would lose many business-travel
customers because technology hiccups could happen to any carrier.
Shares of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc. fell $1.49, or 2.7 percent, to close at $52.82.
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