Microsoft global outage impacts NYC area flights, but subways and trains still running
NEW YORK -- A global Microsoft outage caused by a CrowdStrike issue overnight impacted computer systems worldwide, grounding hundreds of flights at New York City airports.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says buses, subways, LIRR and Metro-North trains are running normally for the morning commute. The agency says some customer service systems may be impacted.
A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams' office posted on social media, saying, "We're aware of the global technical outage involving CrowdStrike and are currently assessing the full impact it may have on city operations. At this time, critical infrastructure and emergency operations, including the 911 call system, have not been impacted."
The city's Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser told CBS New York "all of our critical systems are up and operational."
"The good news is that for New York City, our critical assets - traffic management, 911, water, and the things that are most critical to the operation - those things remain up and running without incident, and they're not impacted at this moment," he said.
The FDNY also shared an update, saying, "FDNY IT and Communication teams implemented our redundancy procedures upon notification of the crowdstrike outage. Dispatchers and Field Units communicated over the department radios limiting any operational impact. Updates to follow as we work through this event."
Some banks, supermarkets and news stations are also affected. The New York Stock Exchange, however, says "markets are fully operational" and it expects to open as normal.
Flights grounded at NYC and Newark airports
Several major airlines, including American, United and Delta, requested ground stops from the FAA around 2:30 a.m., citing the communication issues.
As of 7 a.m., John F. Kennedy International Airport reported 92 delays and 35 cancelations, LaGuardia Airport reported 56 delays and 87 cancellations, and Newark Liberty International Airport reported 75 delays and 25 cancellations. Nationwide, there are nearly 1,300 delays and 674 domestic cancellations.
Delta said it paused all flights around the globe "due to a vendor technology issue that is impacting several airlines and businesses around the world."
"We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to resume operations," the airline said in a statement at 6:24 a.m. "Customers with flights scheduled for Friday should continue checking their flight status via the Fly Delta app and Delta.com. We are also working to issue a travel waiver this morning that will allow customers scheduled to travel Friday, July 19, to manage changes to their itinerary via Delta.com or the Fly Delta app."
Meanwhile, United and American resumed some flights, but said travelers should expect residual disruptions.
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. We have issued a waiver to make it easier to change your travel plans at United.com or the United app," United Airlines said in an updated statement at 7 a.m.
"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 Airlines said in a statement of its own.
"All the computers died"
CBS New York's Christina Fan spoke with travelers in Newark about the issues overnight. Many said they learned 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.
Some passengers said airlines were even hand writing boarding passes.
"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."
Check your flight status
Travelers should check with their carriers for individual flight information.
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Stick with CBS New York for the latest updates on this developing story.
