Mysterious Computer Glitch Grounds Every United Flight in the U.S.

Trouble with the computerized dispatch system kept every United flight in the U.S. on the ground Tuesday morning.

Thousands of United Airlines passengers weren’t going anywhere early Tuesday, as trouble getting “proper dispatch information” to flight crews forced the airline to ground its entire U.S. fleet. United officials were tight-lipped about the exact nature of the computer problems that briefly brought operations to a halt at one of the largest air carriers in the world. The New York Times reports that flights resumed 40 minutes after the widespread delays began around 9 a.m. EDT.

The airline made a short, somewhat mysterious announcement just before 10 a.m. via Twitter, declaring that the unspecified issue had been resolved.

We began delaying flights at approx. 8 a.m. CT to ensure aircraft departed with proper dispatch information. Flights are now departing.

— United (@united) June 2, 2015

Affected flyers, however, took to social media to say that United crews were less cryptic in describing the situation. Dozens reported being told by crews that the airline’s dispatch system was “corrupted”, with one passenger tweeting:

Sitting on runway. Pilot inferring #UnitedAirlines has grounded all flights due to possible hack: fake flight plans found in system.

— Ted Benson (@edwardbenson) June 2, 2015

The same Twitter user later reported:

@gabestein engines just spun up again so maybe resolved? Pilot said flight plan system had been spitting out "random plans over and over"

— Ted Benson (@edwardbenson) June 2, 2015

United said it would be waiving change fees for passengers affected by the “ground stop” at all airports. While the legacy carrier has indicated that the delays were a result of a logistical decision on the airline’s part, CNBC reports that the FAA issued an order halting all United flights early Tuesday. That order was said to be lifted less than one hour later.

The computer glitch follows the airline’s feud with hacker groups incensed after the airline banned a cyber security expert who claimed to have hacked flight critical systems on multiple United aircraft and close on the heels of the rollout of a new FAA-mandated NextGen text-based dispatch and communications systems. The massive grounding also occurred on a day in which law enforcement was busy investigating a series of bomb threats against flights in the U.S.

[Photo: United Airlines]