“T hey are letting us board now.” Those words were posted by FlyerTalk member FlyerTom111 at 8:59 in the evening Eastern Standard Time; and several other FlyerTalk members have also announced eyewitness reports of operations resuming just as the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States cancelled a ground stop on all mainline flights of United Airlines within the continuous 48 United States — but not before passengers experienced delays measured in hours.
United Airlines Resuming Operations After Outage — Slowly
“ORD-GRR mainline, was one plane away from runway when we got held”, according to this report by FlyerTalk member matthopp. “Now hit the 2hr mark and still waiting on one piece of paper according pilot, so now they are sending us back to the gate in fear of the 3hr rule. They have been giving us snacks and water, even get to watch the game for free, but I think it’s time to rent a car….”
FlyerTalk member sbm12 — also known as Seth Miller of Wandering Aramean — posted that “UA has requested a ground stop from the FAA for all domestic flights citing W&B systems offline” and a link to the official Internet web site of the Federal Aviation Administration, which granted that ground stop to United Airlines a few hours ago.
These delays complicated an already messy flight situation in various parts of the country. For example, heavy rains and strong winds as the result of thunderstorms doused the greater Atlanta metropolitan area earlier tonight. At this time, the death toll from those storms — which spawned tornadoes in Mississippi and Georgia — has risen to 16 people.
“Really glad I’m not flying United tomorrow morning” was what a thankful Edward Pizzarello wrote in this article at Pizza in Motion. “It’s not the first time United has had one of these issue, and probably won’t be the last.”
What United Airlines experienced this evening was reminiscent of the systemwide outage experienced by Delta Air Lines this past August from which several days were needed to completely recover back to full operations.
Summary
Hopefully, United Airlines will be back in full operation again as soon as possible — but the possibility remains that flights may be delayed or canceled through tomorrow. If you are planning on traveling as a passenger of United Airlines during the next 24 hours — especially if you are traveling on a domestic flight route within the 48 contiguous United States — ensure that you contact United Airlines to check on your flight before you leave for the airport.
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.
