FAA System Failure Causes US Flight Delays

Gate said, nationwide ground stop. Flights are being called to divert.

Let's wait and see.

Either the software is out of date or this may be a cyber attack.

Something this critical should have a fail safe switch , be on a high availability grid , or have parallel server running. If there is no emergency plan in place I would be concerned.

Biden's America!

Looks like I picked the wrong day to do a status run. Short delay on AS from LAX to EWR last night. Now stuck in EWR on the turnaround that was scheduled to leave at 7:55am. More than half the plane had already boarded. Gate agent said they were told at least 1-2 hours delay, but the board shows an 8:30am departure as does TripIt, which is silly.

SMH...Troll

Currently sitting at BZN, with no lounge. First world problems.

Diverted flights are coming in.

Seeeing many ARFF lined up on tarmac, not sure if it's a coincidence or not.

Would love someone with inside knowledge to explain how there aren't 2-3+ back up servers and other fail-safe procedures for something this critical?

@Ben. Follow-up column idea for you: What are your refund options when an extreme flight delay or cancellation is the fault of the FAA and not the airline?

Another DOT leadership failure.

According to UA pilot on PDX NOTAM is restored so that is good news, now the dispatchers have to work through the backlog and hopefully get us on our way soon. 5:40sm PST

Maybe Pete Buttigeg should spend some time fixing his own computer systems instead of writing pointless letters to southwest…

Quite ironic after Feds came down on WN. Are they refunding passengers too?

The government is so quick to demand that the airlines give refunds to passengers when they have meltdowns, where is the FAA giving refunds and compensation to passengers when it’s their fault?

Update: boarding restarted around 9:00am, a little over an hour after original departure time. Fingers crossed.

Today will go down as one of the most heavily delayed days in US airline history and the airlines and weather have nothing to do with it

Don't hold your breath for congressional hearings on this one.

It likely did failover to the backup that’s why it says “no updates.” They could access existing NOTAMS but no new ones could added. It’s fairly common to failover to a read only backup in case there was data corruption. They had to perform data integrity checks before bringing it back up and add back any data that was corrupted during the failover.

We should consider that after airlines eat how much they should have reimbursed passengers and didn't over the last 100 years.

It can't -- it is generally illegal for a federal agency to spend monies for a purpose for which there isn't a valid appropriation passed by Congress. And if the government starts compensating people and companies for stuff like this in all the domains it operates in, taxes will have to go through the roof.

None. If you want change you have to chance to vote in someone who will put in a real secretary of transportation and not a celebrity mayor.

Something not quite right, it’s now being reported here in the U.K. that Royal Mail are unable to send letters and parcels internationally due to a “cyber incident”

Welcome to 21st century America. We have used up all the design margin in our critical systems and institutions, and as a country we lack the seriousness to rebuild them. An un-serious and unqualified individual like Mayor Pete is a perfect example. Unfortunately he is not unique, but rather the norm as unqualified people staff and seemingly run everything important these days.

And the 2nd time ever we had a nationwide ground stop.

First time was 9/11.

A status run 10 days into the New Year?

My 0630 AA flight from SAN to PHL left at 0655 and we are inflight, due to arrive around 10 minutes later than scheduled. So far, not a problem.

Is Buttigieg gonna write a strongly worded letter w/ threats to his own departments?

There’s so much reliance on technology nowadays and I’m sure you’re an expert on this. All talk, no knowledge

It’s not his system. Do you know what the issue was and how to resolve it? Of course not.

And what about IT failures during the trump years? Twat

At least it isn't 20 below there like it was when I was there a few weeks ago. It definitely brought a new dimension to the phrase "Smoking is bad for your health".

You're correct. Critical infrastructure, not jut technology, has been maxed over it's intended limit and few new investments and upgrades. Just look at our airports. Built in the 60s and 70s for the volume of 60s and 70s. But we'd rather send billions to a crooked country like Ukraine and Pete will go right along because he knows nothing.

LOL does the FAA/Boeing 737 fiasco ring a bell? That was under the last administration.

Confirmation bias. If they're not smart enough to recognize it, just ignore the low iq.

I guess the nuance of that question went right over your head. But at least you understand government appropriations.

This situation worked out for me. I'm scheduled on AA116 tonight from OGG to DFW, equipment was swapped from 787-9 to 787-8 and we were booked in business. AA called and offered $800 voucher plus refund in fare difference to downgrade to premium economy. I took the offer. OGG to DFW isn't long enough to fully enjoy flagship business.

@George Romey great argument, completely persuaded, totally coherent

I blame Delta.

Love the comparison between FAA’s ground stop with SW’s meltdown. Seems folks have lost the common sense of comparing meltdown last days v/s ground stop lasting hrs. Common Sense is not common.

As it's on AS, I would guess this is a status run for American, which has a status year that ends in February.

@DaveP

That’s a heck of a deal. Are you CK or EP ?

When you get back to Earth from planet nut job, look into the historic bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure improvement bill passed by the Biden administration. Or just keep whining like a child. Your choice.

And yet it hurt Southwest the most

Love the comparison between FAA’s ground stop with SW’s meltdown. Seems folks have lost the common sense of comparing meltdown affecting 15000+ flights over a week v/s (sic) ground stop affecting the similar number of flights in a few hrs. Common Sense is not common.

Yes, things were much better when Mitch McConnell’s wife was Secretary of Transportation.

So where does the money come from to update the FAA computers? Increase the tax on tickets? Take money from the Department of Defense or some other agencies budget? Make the airlines pay for it? Privatize it?

Or just do nothing and keep the old 70s system.

EP, yeah heck of a deal as there were many pissed off travelers at OGG who were informed they were downgraded.