I tried to book a simple round-trip domestic flight on United Airlines via their official Internet web site; and nothing happened, as all I saw was a blank white screen before eventually seeing the message displayed at the top of this article.
I know it was not the Internet because — well — here I am typing up an article with no problem…
United Airlines Main Computer Down and Out?
…but I did find out quickly from both this discussion on FlyerTalk and from KGO-TV Channel 7 News in San Francisco that United Airlines is having technology issues.
Officials representing United Airlines reportedly released a statement earlier, stating:
“Earlier tonight we experienced an issue with our weight reporting system, which caused system wide flight delays. We have resolved the issue and are working to get customers to their destinations as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Do not attempt to book a flight using the official mobile software application program of United Airlines, as that too will not work.
All flights worldwide are currently on a ground stop, which is set to expire at 11:30 in the evening Pacific Daylight Time — which means that by the time you read this, the ground stop should theoretically be lifted.
“23:00 update, the FA said we are free to deplane but the problem is not just UA but *all* airlines flight are unable to departure, is this for real?” asked FlyerTalk member gokeeper, who earlier tonight “Currently boarded UA1447 SFO-EWR Scheduled at 21:55, captain just announced the master computer is down and won’t allow us to leave gate. I tried to call 1k line and seems phone system is down too.”
Summary
Well, the official Internet web site of United Airlines seems to be back up and running — if I have a problem using it, I will let you know — but it seems I spoke too soon, as FlyerTalk members are still reporting sporadic issues with the web site; so the “all clear” cannot be given just yet…
…but now is another problem in the works with American Airlines? “I can access AA.com, but cannot get to any of my reservations, either via direct link (which I have bookmarked) or through logging in and waiting for it so show my reservations”, according to this comment posted by FlyerTalk member BThumme, who thinks this might merely be a coincidence to receive the message “This feature is temporarily unavailable. We apologize for this inconvenience. Please try again later.”
Airlines…
Source: United Airlines.
