Travelers Face Delays as United and Delta Tackle Tech Issues
Washington, D.C. — United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are working to resolve technical problems that impacted travelers worldwide on Monday.
Passengers took to social media to share their experiences with boarding delays, as well as issues with the airlines’ websites and apps that occasionally failed to operate properly.
By Tuesday afternoon, United Airlines had updated its app and website, stating that they were addressing a temporary technical glitch affecting their online services.
“United faced a short-lived technology issue linked to a vendor that made it difficult for customers to log into their MileagePlus accounts,” the airline explained in a statement. “The problem has now been fixed, and our flight operations were not affected.”
Delta also acknowledged that it was facing similar technical difficulties and was diligently working to restore normal service.
“Our systems are stabilizing following a limited global technology issue that affected data connections for some of our behind-the-scenes systems,” Delta stated. “We thank our customers for their patience during this time.”
Additionally, the website Down Detector indicated that American Airlines was experiencing similar issues, although the airline did not provide a statement regarding the matter.
The complex technology systems utilized by airlines often involve both in-house solutions and external vendor technologies that serve multiple airlines. While the exact cause of Tuesday’s issues remains unclear, past incidents have shown that airlines can face technology outages due to various factors.
In July, American Airlines was forced to pause flights for under an hour due to an IT outage that impacted connectivity briefly.
In August 2025, United faced significant disruptions when a technology issue grounded flights, leading to over 1,000 delays and numerous cancellations.
Most notably, in 2024, a software update for Microsoft Windows operating systems from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused widespread system failures across multiple businesses globally, affecting airlines like Delta, United, American Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant, and Sun Country.
