Departing flights from several SoCal airports resuming after being grounded due to tech outage
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A massive global technology outage caused by a botched cybersecurity firm software update knocked out computer systems across Southern California and around the world Friday, leading to delayed and canceled flights at local airports, disruptions at the L.A./Long Beach ports and headaches for other computer-dependent operations.
Departing flights from Los Angeles International Airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport and Long Beach Airport were temporarily grounded after the airlines asked the Federal Aviation Administration for a ground stop on all flights, according to an alert from the FAA.
Flights at John Wayne Airport in Orange County did not have a ground stops, but there were sporadic cancellations and delays Friday.
FAA officials said they were "working with airlines to closely monitor the global IT issue that could continue to affect flights this weekend."
An LAX spokeswoman said the airport was "seeing some delays from United, Delta and American Airlines. Our communications center is in constant communications with the FAA."
CrowdStrike is a U.S. cybersecurity company that has admitted to being responsible for the error and is working to correct it.
"A third party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United," United Airlines said in a statement on Friday morning. "While we work to restore those systems, we are holding all aircraft at their departure airports. Flights already airborne are continuing to their destinations."
American Airlines issued a statement at 2 a.m. Friday that they were back up and running as normal.
"Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience," the statement read.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said in a statement the outage was "not a security or cyber incident."
"We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption," he said. "We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on. As noted earlier, the issue has been identified and a fix has been deployed."
Meanwhile, Microsoft said it is investigating the extent of the outage.
"We're investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services," Microsoft said in a statement released on social media Friday morning.
Amtrak reported the outage was preventing credit card transactions for its Pacific Surfliner service. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPay payments can be used to complete online reservations.
Metrolink advised customers that the outage was impacting its smartphone app, warning that "passengers may experience issues when using the app or when purchasing tickets."
Los Angeles Superior Court officials reported that they were "experiencing significant system-wide connectivity issues" that were impacting the court's operations. Hearings scheduled for Friday that involved remote appearances were all postponed, and parties were being notified of new dates.
The Orange County Fire Authority reported that the outage "temporarily" affected some of the agency's internal systems, but emergency response was unaffected.
The Los Angeles Police Department and Fire Department operations "have not been impacted at this time," according to a statement from Zach Seidel, deputy mayor of communications. He said Mayor Karen Bass has been in contact with officials at Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that oversees LAX, and they are "working actively to resolve travel issues."
"Travelers at LAX and other regional airports should plan ahead for potential delays," Seidel said.
Even coffee giant Starbucks was affected, with its online ordering system going down Friday morning.
City News Service contributed to this report.
