• Travel misery: Thousands of travelers face an uncertain weekend at airports across the country because of delays amid yesterday’s nationwide hours-long ground stop forced by a telecommunications outage. Some domestic US flights are now resuming but airlines face a battle to clear the backlog.
• Possible cause: The Trump administration has blamed old air traffic control technology and overloaded routers, pointing to FAA updates to those aging systems. The ground stop did not stem from a threat to the US and was not linked to this week’s disruptive Microsoft outage, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullan said.
• Calls for funding: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged Congress to provide funds for improvements and said it’s “going to be slow” to return to normal, adding that it shouldn’t impact Thanksgiving travel.
Frustrated travelers will continue to face delayed or canceled flights and hours-long waits at US airports, as federal officials warned it will take time for airports and airlines to get back to full capacity following a massive grounding.
At least three US-bound flights were listed as cancelled on departure boards at Terminal 3 of Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, on Saturday morning, including services to Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago.
One family travelling to Orlando said they first heard about the disruptions on Friday night, but their airline’s website showed their flight operating on time on Saturday morning, so they decided to head to the airport and check in as normal.
The arrivals board showed that many flights arriving from the US are cancelled or delayed, including a San Francisco flight due to arrive into Heathrow at 12.50 p.m. local time, nearly two hours later than originally expected.
Disruption at other UK airports, including Manchester and Gatwick, appears to have been minimal, although both airports operate fewer US-bound flights than Heathrow.
As we’ve previously reported major European airports have been impacted by the ground stop although the disruption is by far the worst in the US.
As yesterday’s FAA ground stop reminded the nation, flights get canceled and delayed at any time and for numerous reasons — from bad weather and mechanical issues to operational glitches.
Keep in mind that in the US, when an airline cancels your flight, you are entitled to a refund if you choose not to travel.
“If a flight does get canceled, travelers are owed a full refund for the ticket, full stop. If they are presented with a credit, they have the right to refuse and ask for monetary refund,” said Katy Nastro, a spokesperson for travel site Going.com , who was underlining Department of Transportation rules .
If a big storm or another complication seems poised to disrupt your flights, “look to make alternative travel plans immediately,” said Eric Napoli, chief legal officer at AirHelp , an air passenger rights company. Competition for seats becomes fierce during the holiday season when flights are more full.
“Travelers should consider looking at flights that are very early in the morning — as these are typically less delayed, too,” Napoli said.
Here’s more on what experts say you should do if your flight is delayed or canceled.
Thousands of travelers face agonizingly long queues early this morning with many flights remained canceled across the country following a systems failure that grounded all US planes.
• What happened: The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for all flights in the US Friday afternoon. A ground stop requires aircraft to remain on the ground and bars them from taking off. More than 3,500 airplanes were in the air when it was issued. The order was lifted more than four hours later.
• Travel nightmare: More than 15,000 US flights were either delayed or canceled on Friday and about 3,000 are expected to be delayed or canceled on Saturday, according to flight data tracker FlightAware. With so many aircraft unable to fly, airports ran out of gates and tarmac space to park planes. Some flights have resumed but huge crowds remain stranded at airports around the US as officials warned it will take time to clear the backlog.
• Why planes were grounded: The rare decision to halt all US flights was made after “incredibly old” air traffic control routers became overloaded with data and started to give inconsistent readings, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the FAA added new technology into an existing framework, which overwhelmed the older system.
• System upgrade: Administration officials said more such incidents will happen until the system is upgraded. President Donald Trump pushed for Congress to pass legislation modernizing air traffic control towers, terminals and other critical infrastructure, according to a source. And Mullin called for a “complete overhaul” of the FAA’s technology systems, which he said could cost about $50 billion.
CNN’s Laura Sharman, Lucas Lilieholm, Kit Maher, Aleena Fayaz, Molly English, and Emma Tucker contributed reporting.
