Travelers wait to reach destination as global Microsoft outage sparks flight delays and cancellations at Denver International Airport

When Blade Beal and Chris Cunningham left Omaha for Japan early Friday morning, they anticipated a potentially long day of travel—and they were correct.

"Including when we showed up this morning at the Omaha airport, at five o'clock...so six hours now," said Beal.

However, they expected to be much further along their journey than Denver by 11 a.m.

"We were supposed to be in L.A., leaving L.A. for Japan in about an hour," said Beal.

"It's a bit chaotic out here," said Cunningham.

Due to a global Microsoft 365 outage, their flight from Omaha was delayed, causing them to miss all subsequent connections. 

They spent their entire morning in line at the United Airlines counter inside Denver International Airport, attempting to salvage their trip, and they weren't alone.

"We've all been waiting here for over five hours. Some people have been here since 4 p.m. yesterday and got rebooked for Saturday," said a passenger.

In total, 300 flights experienced delays and over 80 were canceled, with United Airlines alone canceling more than 50 flights. Passengers were advised to rebook their flights, but the lines moved agonizingly slow.

Beal and Cunningham waited in line for more than an hour and still needed to rebook their international flight, putting their trip in jeopardy.

"Now, we don't even know if we're going to Japan," said Beal.

They expressed disappointment at the possibility of not being able to go, unsure of what more they can do.

"I don't know who can predict all this stuff that's been going on," said Cunningham.

RELATED: Flights resume at DIA as recovery from global outage continues