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Here’s how airlines are affected and what they’re offering stranded travelers.
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By Hannah Sampson Sofia Andrade
A worldwide Microsoft meltdown that began Thursday night has grounded flights and stranded passengers across the world.
As of 11 a.m. Eastern time, more than 3,000 flights had been canceled worldwide. More than 1,800 of those were flights operating into, within or out of the United States, according to FlightAware.com, an online flight-tracking website. More than 27,000 flights were delayed worldwide, with delays affecting more than 4,700 flights originating and/or ending in the United States.
Travelers whose flights are canceled or significantly delayed are entitled to a prompt refund if they choose not to take their trip, according to the Department of Transportation. The department said Friday that it was monitoring the impact on airlines and directed passengers to the customer service dashboard on FlightRights.gov. The site details what airlines owe passengers during controllable delays and cancellations, including rebooking, hotel accommodations for people stuck overnight and meal vouchers for delays of more than three hours.
Here’s how airlines are affected and what they’re offering travelers.
United
In a statement to The Washington Post, United said it was restoring its Friday schedule after a “major” software disruption that affected systems used for calculating aircraft weight, check-in services and call support centers.
Customers were encouraged to change their travel plans on the airline website. Per a waiver issued, travelers can reschedule trips with no change fees or fare differences, as long as the ticket is for a United flight between July 18 and July 25 and is booked in the same cabin and between the same cities.
Delta
Delta has issued a travel waiver for all customers who have booked flights departing Friday. It allows customers to manage their own travel changes via delta.com and the Fly Delta app. The fare difference for customers will be waived when rebooked travel occurs on or before July 24, in the same cabin of service as originally booked. If travel is rebooked after July 24, any difference in fare between the original ticket and the new ticket will be collected at the time of booking. Customers can monitor and manage their itineraries on Delta.com or on the Fly Delta app.
American
While American Airlines reestablished their operations by 5 a.m. Friday, per an X post, customers scheduled to fly from or to certain airports, including DCA, can have their change fees waived if they travel between July 18 and 25. For the waiver to apply, tickets must be booked on Friday, and must be in the same fare class and between the same cities originally booked.
Southwest
Southwest told The Post in a statement that the outage “did not directly affect our operations.” Travelers reported delays Friday morning, but there are no travel advisories or notice of waivers on Southwest’s website or app related to the outage.
Frontier
Frontier wrote on X Thursday night: “During this time booking, check-in, access to your boarding pass, and some flights may be impacted.” In a subsequent post, they referred affected customers to the airline’s travel advisory page.
Frontier customers whose flights were delayed over three hours, or canceled, are eligible for rebooking on the next available flight for no extra charge, or cancellations for full airline credit or full refunds to the original form of payment, per the page. Customers affected are not eligible, however, for hotel, ground transportation vouchers, meals or other accommodations, as the airline says online since the “event was beyond Frontier’s control.”
Spirit
In a social media post Friday morning, Spirit said due to the outage, they are “currently unable to rebook Guests whose travel plans have been disrupted.” Travelers whose flights were impacted were told to wait until service was restored for guidance.
JetBlue
In an email statement to The Washington Post, JetBlue said their operations remain normal, without any systemwide cancellations or delays. Still they encouraged customers to monitor their flight status and “build in extra time in the event that this outage has impacted specific airports due to outages at other airlines, airport operators, or government agencies.”
Allegiant
In an X statement Friday, Allegiant said customers may experience delays with booking, checking in or accessing boarding passes. They did not provide additional information for affected customers.
Lori Aratani contributed to this report.
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