Delays continued Thursday for some United Airlines passengers after a technical glitch the day before caused the airline to ground hundreds of flights across the country.
The ground stop has been lifted. But a day afterward, passengers were still feeling the impact.
United said a “technology issue” prompted them to request the ground stop and hold departures at about 5:12 p.m. Wednesday. They released a statement around 9 p.m. Wednesday saying that issue had been resolved, and they were working to get flights moving again.
On Thursday, there were two canceled United Airlines flights at O’Hare. It was not nearly as chaotic as Wednesday night, but some passengers who were impacted by the ground stop were waiting at the airport a day later — and hoping their evening flights would go smoothly.
“It was the type of thing where it kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed and delayed,” said Nathan Lee. “It was so annoying frankly while we were sitting there.”
Lee was in Washington, D.C., headed back to Chicago He was sitting on the plane when the pilot announced the ground stop.
“There’s a national issue. They’re not telling us anything,” Lee quoted the pilot. “We don’t know if we’re going to be leaving tonight, but I guess we’ll find out in about an hour or so.”
It was unclear what exactly caused the technology problem that prompted the ground stop. DePaul University professor and transportation expert Joe Schwieterman said everything is centralized in a computer.
“You have gate shortages at the airport. You have flight crew requirement and so forth,” said Schwieterman. “So when something goes down, one little component of that system, the whole thing can require kind of a reset of the whole airline, a ground stoppage.”
Schwieterman noted that other airlines have experienced similar problems in recent years.
“It appears to be one of these digital failures, you might say. What we saw last year when this happened, like with Southwest, the whole thing can unravel — and you can just have days of torture for travelers,” he said. “We think United avoided this, but there’s always risk.”
Many were put up in hotels Wednesday night until a new flight became available.
“Financially, it isn’t fun for the airline,” Schwieterman said.
Daniela Betancourt and her family were given a discount for their room.
“They tried to get us a hotel, but they couldn’t,” Betancourt said, “so they gave us a discount, but we found a cheaper option.”
United rebooked their flight for Thursday.
“We got rebooked,” said Betancourt. “I mean, we didn’t have to rebuy, repurchase, but it’s still an expensive mistake.”
Lee’s flight left at 3:20 p.m., and Betancourt a few hours later. But both Betancourt and Lee said they came to O’Hare hours early on Thursday, because they didn’t want a repeat of what happened Wednesday.
“We’re taking no chances. Trying to get through as smooth as possible — keep our heads down, you know,” added Lee. “Maybe I’m superstitious, but I’m just really hoping nothing goes wrong.”
Betancourt and her family came six hours ahead of time.
“Precaution,” said Betancourt. “We don’t want to miss this flight.”
CBS News Chicago reached out to United Airlines to confirm whether all flights and services had been restored. There had not been a response as of late Thursday.
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