If you were flying on United Airlines today, June 17, 2011, you more than likely had some issues due to a computer outage. Here is what their Web site is reporting:
This evening, United Airlines experienced a computer outage interrupting the airline’s flight departures, airport processing and reservations systems. As a result, customers may experience difficulties completing transactions at united.com and United reservations. Our technology team is working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We apologize for the disruption being caused to travelers at affected airports and we are seeking to resume operations as quickly as possible
There is not much you can do, but wait for them to fix it. This is pretty major as the delays will cause the crews to be come “illegal” which means that they’ve been flying for longer than the FAA allows. So a new crew has to be found. With airplanes in the wrong locations due to ground stoppage at select airports, there is no telling when this will get better.
As a passenger, I’d advise you to continue to check the following for updates:
- www.united.com
- www.continental.com
- the twitter page at www.twitter.com/unitedairlines and
- www.facebook.com/unitedairlines
- the iPhone and Android app
- pda.continental.com or mobile.united.com for the status of your flight.
Its pointless to call as the agents won’t be able to check anything for you either.