Microsoft service outage is causing widespread flight disruptions and cancellations. Here’s what you need to know.

Air travel is experiencing disruptions around the world on Friday morning due to a Microsoft Disruption for customers of its 365 apps, including many major airlines.

In the United States, more than 3,000 flights within, to or from the country had been canceled as of 9 p.m. Eastern time, while more than 11,400 flights had been delayed, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking service.

Airlines said the outage affected back-end systems they use to send key data, such as weight and balance information, needed for planes to depart.

Airline passengers posted images on social media of long queues at ticket counters and “blue screens of death” (the error page Microsoft displays when its programs are not working) on ​​screens at several airports. The problem was caused by a software update sent by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike to Microsoft, which it said it had identified in its systems and was working to resolve it.

“Simply put, this is a PR nightmare for CrowdStrike, Microsoft and others will be caught in this tornado along with millions of people currently stranded in airports around the world,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a report.

Travelers in Europe are also facing problems, with Lufthansa, KLM and SAS Airlines reporting issues. Switzerland’s largest airport, in Zurich, said no planes were allowed to land, according to CBS News’ sister network BBC News.

In Australia, the airline Jetstar cancelled all flights from Brisbane Airport for the day, according to the BBC. One traveller in Scotland told the Guardian that she paid $8,600 for new return tickets to the US after her original flight was cancelled due to the IT glitch.

Delta Air Lines

At about 7:50 a.m. Eastern time, Delta said it had resumed some flights after an airline-wide pause Friday morning due to the Microsoft service outage. Delta had canceled more than 1,000 flights in the U.S. as of 9 p.m., FlightAware data shows.

“We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to resume operations,” Delta said in its statement.

united airlines

United said it has been able to resume some flights but warned customers to “expect schedule disruptions to continue throughout Friday.” More than 500 United flights had been canceled as of 9 p.m. ET Friday, though some flights departed Newark Airport this morning.

The airline added: “We have issued a waiver to make it easier for customers to change their travel plans through United.com or the United app.”

A service disruption caused by a third party is affecting computer systems, including at United and many other organizations around the world.

While we work to fully restore these systems, some flights are resuming. Many customers traveling today may experience delays.

We have issued a waiver to make it easier…

— United Airlines (@united) July 19, 2024

American Airlines

American Airlines said it had resumed operations around 5 a.m. Eastern Time. FlightAware data shows more than 380 American Airlines flights had been canceled by about 9 p.m.

This morning, a technical issue with a supplier impacted several carriers, including American. By 5:00 a.m. EST, we were able to safely restore operations. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.

—americanair (@AmericanAir) July 19, 2024

Alaska Airlines, Southwest, Frontier

Alaska Airlines told CBS News it is operating normally. Southwest and Frontier also appear to be operating normally.

—With reporting by Kris Van Cleave.