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United Airlines flights across the country were delayed today due to an unexpected technology outage. The outage, which affected the airline’s check-in and boarding system, has seen services affected from New York to Los Angeles, and operations at both regional and major airports.
While the system is now slowly returning to full functionality, the airline has warned that some flights and passengers could still be affected as the airline works through any backlog caused by the outage. Passengers have reported that there have been several issues, which include challenges checking in, bag drop, and boarding.
Major Airports Across The US Affected By The Outage
United shared on its X account that the carrier is facing a technology outage that is affecting the check-in and boarding process, affecting operations at major airports including Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and 
Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). The first report of outages was raised at 7:40 AM, and by 8:23 AM, according to Down Detector, more than 430 reports had been made. Down Detector now shows that United is no longer experiencing any technology issues.
The issue has since been resolved, and the airline is working promptly in an attempt to get operations back to normal. Passengers are encouraged to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport and be patient if services are interrupted. Simple Flying reached out to United Airlines for comment and received the following statement:
Our teams are getting our operations back to normal after a technology outage affected contact centers and check-in processes earlier today. We encourage customers to check their flight status on the United app as they get ready to travel today. Thanks to our customers for their patience and to our teams for their work to get people safely to their destinations.
Reservation System Struck And Caused Outages
According to the carrier, the technology outage affected its reservation system, which resulted in the airline being unable to process check-in and print customer tickets. This subsequently affected bag drop and boarding. No flights that were already airborne experienced any delays. The outage lasted around 1 hour and 15 minutes, as detailed below:
Software | SHARES reservation system |
|---|---|
Outage Start Time | 6:00 AM, Saturday, July 18, Central Time |
Outage Resolved By | 7:15 AM, Saturday, July 18, Central Time |
Areas Affected | Reservations, Check-in |
The airline’s contact center was also affected, meaning that passengers calling the carrier experienced long delays to speak with someone and/or be able to process any flight changes or other requests that required the airline’s reservation system. Once the system was back up and running, the airline shared on its X account the following:
Our operations are returning to normal after an early morning technology issue affected functions including contact centers and check-in processes.
United confirmed to Simple Flying that the outage was caused by a fault in the airline’s SHARES reservation system. This system manages the airline’s reservations, and its outage meant that the airline was unable to process customer tickets or check in travelers for their upcoming flights.
Technology Outages Cause Operational Gridlock
If an airline’s reservation system goes down, such as United this Saturday, it can cause operational gridlock and halt the ability for an airline to create new bookings. Airport agents can be forced to switch to a manual check-in process, which can lead to grounded flights if severe. As a result, flights can experience severe delays and have long terminal queues as passengers are seen one by one. In some cases, flights can either be severely delayed or cancelled.
United Airlines was one of many airlines that faced widespread outages due to the CrowdStrike update in 2024, which paralyzed airline systems around the world. This saw the forced cancellation of thousands of flights around the world. While this case seems to be isolated to United Airlines, it has still sent a shockwave through the airline’s domestic network and affected plenty of passengers hoping for an uneventful Saturday flight.
For passengers traveling today, they are reminded to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport. The airline has reassured passengers that the system is now up and running; however, delays may be felt as the airline returns to full operations. The technology outage and the root cause will likely be investigated thoroughly internally by the carrier.
