Hundreds of flights at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports impacted by global Microsoft outage. Subways and trains still running.
NEW YORK -- Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at New York City airports after a CrowdStrike update caused a global Microsoft outage early Friday morning.
Tri-State Area officials stressed this was not a cyberattack, and most critical services, like 911, hospitals and mass transit, were not impacted.
Major airlines - including Delta, United, and American - were still experiencing delays and cancellations Saturday.
Delta, United & American flights grounded overnight
The outage first impacted Frontier Airlines late Thursday night. Several major airlines, including American, United and Delta, then requested ground stops from the Federal Aviation Administration around 2:30 a.m. Friday, citing communication issues.
American and United started resuming some flights around 5 a.m., but Delta remained grounded until about 8 a.m.
As of 10:45 p.m., John F. Kennedy International Airport reported 444 delays and 119 cancellations, LaGuardia Airport reported 445 delays and 231 cancellations, and Newark Liberty International Airport reported 580 delays and 225 cancellations.
"Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5:00 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience," American said in a statement.
"A third-party outage is impacting computer systems, including at United and many other organizations worldwide. As we work to fully restore these systems, some flights are resuming. Many customers traveling today may experience delays," United said.
"Delta has resumed some flight departures after a vendor technology issue impacted several airlines and businesses around the world. That issue necessitated a pause in Delta's global flight schedule this morning while it was addressed," said Delta.
The airlines are all offering travel waivers, so people can rebook their flights for another time.
Spirit took to social media, saying the global outage is impacting reservations and flight operations, apologizing for the inconvenience.
CBS senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave said there's compensation some passengers may not know about.
"Flyers do have rights. Long delays should prompt meal vouchers. If you're stranded overnight, that should result in a voucher for a hotel. And if your flight doesn't go, you should be able to get a cash refund," he said.
"All the computers died"
CBS New York's Christina Fan spoke with travelers in Newark about the issues overnight. Many said they learned about the news as they arrived at the airport and saw the lines.
"We tried to check in like three hours before we got here, like at 2 a.m., and it wasn't working. So once we got here, there's literately a line this long," one woman said, adding it took about three hours to get to the ticket counter.
"Terrible, people spend thousands of dollars to go on vacation or go home or go visit family, and this is the situation that we got put through - between these airline companies that make millions of dollars," said one man.
"I'm going to my family reunion, so I'm anxious, I'm scared a little bit. But I'll be alright, I'm just going to stay here until the line clears," another woman added.
Ticket agents were forced to issue handwritten boarding passes, rather than printing them out at kiosks.
"I just flew from Panama, and when I boarded in the David airport to Panama City, all the computers died. And we just thought it was local. So they started hand writing all of the boarding passes," said one woman. "So we were very delayed getting out of there, in Panama. Now, they just told me at the United desk that they're completely down, it's worldwide."
The Restom family was trying to make it home to Beirut, but the first leg of their flight to Paris was delayed three hours. That delay in turn meant they would miss their connected flight, and all the other flights from Paris to Beirut were fully booked.
"We're looking for a solution. We haven't found it yet," Georges Restom said.
"One update can cripple a whole world"
At LaGuardia Airport, digital boards were blank and travelers were grounded. There was barely room to squeeze into the Spirit departure terminal, but the baggage carousels sat still with few arriving flights.
Dallas resident Mike Martinez kept his toddler distracted with his phone while he took a trip back in time.
"They're doing everything by paper, I hear, so they're writing everything out ... [It's like] back to the '80s," he said.
Wanda Hesse was going home to Detroit until her flight was twice delayed and then canceled. Then she had to try to land a rental car and brace for a 10-hour drive.
"The website's down, so we can't even book a car at this point," she said. "It really is a shame how one website or one update can cripple a whole world."
Hesse managed to land a car, but others weren't so lucky. Rental car companies said their systems were not impacted by the outage, but some ran out of cars as demand surged due to the cancellations.
Two women heading to Louisville for their Saturday summer league basketball game had to figure out a plan C.
"We have to take a $200 Uber to our friend's house, and then all, like, carpool to Kentucky, which is another 12-hour drive," Jona Kabasci said.
Laquisha Moore was almost in tears after one day of weather delays, then a flight cancellation.
"Now they've canceled the flight, so we've got to figure out what we're gonna do. We don't know where to go. It's just stressed out," she said. "And there is no refund because everything is down. We can't rebook."
"It's like going back to the '70s, going to the system where you get a boarding pass handwritten and your luggage is handwritten," Dallas resident Marco Andresen said.
At JFK Airport, some passengers told CBS New York that on international flights, anyone without a U.S. passport had to remain on board the plane after landing due to the outage. It's unclear how long they were asked to stay on board. Even passengers with American passports and global entry said customs took about an hour to get through without the usual software.
Check your flight status
Travelers should check with their carriers for individual flight information.
Use the following links for local airports:
NYC buses, subways and trains up and running
Despite the issues at local airports, the MTA said buses, subways, LIRR and Metro-North trains were up and running for the morning commute. Some customer service tools, like the screens that display arrival times, were impacted.
"We established quickly that there is no impact to subway service, no impact to the bus system, no impact to the commuter rails and no impact to the paratransit operations," MTA Chair Janno Lieber said Friday morning. "The impacts that are customer-facing are limited to one portion of our countdown clocks on the B division, which is the letter trains, are not operating. But I've told New Yorkers: The trains are coming, they're coming on regular schedules, and you can count on it, you just might not have the countdown clock available."
Lieber added tolls are being collected as usual, jokingly that it's "bad news for some people, I know."
NJ Transit said its service was not impacted either, but some ticket vending machines went down. Amtrak said the outage also impacted its credit card payments, but Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal were still working.
Meanwhile, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles said its systems have been restored for online transactions hours after the global outage started, but some in-person transactions may not yet be available. Both the New Jersey MVC and Connecticut DMV say they are experiencing interruptions and delays. The New Jersey MVC said it will offer "courtesy return passes" to people who need to reschedule.
"Customers who can't be serviced during this period may reschedule online or will be offered a courtesy return pass," New Jersey's MVC posted on social media.
