Customs Gets Back Online, After Shutdown Delays Flyers

Thousands of travelers entering the United States experienced severe delays after computer breakdown.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) entry points are returning to business as usual after a massive computer shutdown created major delays for those entering the country on Monday, Jan. 2. Via their social media channels, the CBP confirmed that computer service was restored in a message sent at 10:30 p.m. Monday, but not before travelers were stuck behind long lines.

“All airports are back on line after a temporary outage of CBP’s processing systems,” the agency wrote on Twitter. “No indication the disruption was malicious in nature.”

The outage began around 5 p.m. on Monday, USA Today reports, and was isolated to airports. During the glitch, flyers entering the United States were manually processed by CBP officers. Automated services, including the popular Global Entry program, were not available to pre-approved trusted travelers. During the outage, officials for CBP confirmed that all arriving passengers were “…screened according to security standards,” with officers maintaining access to “national security-related databases.”

Because thousands of travelers were delayed by the incident, airlines and airports scrambled to accommodate those who missed connecting flights due to the outage. At Miami International Airport (MIA), displaced flyers were allowed to stay at the airport’s auditorium, while American Airlines rebooked all passengers who were stuck behind the delay.

Flyers entering the United States were not the only ones frustrated by the outage. In a statement, U.S. Travel Association chief executive Roger Dow called the incident “disturbing, but not surprising,” and called on the government to improve the CBP infrastructure for travelers coming into the country.

“The headaches this inflicts upon American travelers is bad enough, but policymakers should be especially mindful of the effect on international visitors,” Dow said in a statement. “The U.S. customs and entry process is already notorious for dissuading long-haul visitors from dealing with the hassle of coming here, and lost inbound travelers means lost export dollars at a time when our economy can ill afford that.”

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