
Travel chaos as United Airlines grounds entire mainline fleet over ‘technology issue'
Ground stops were ordered at major airports including Houston, Newark, and San Francisco.
4
4
Planes were grounded over a technology issue.
Problems started to arise just before 6:15pm ET.
Around three in 10 of the carrier's flights were delayed by around 9:45pm.
The issue was eventually resolved, but chiefs warned travelers to expect delays.
"Due to a technology issue, we are holding United mainline flights at their departure airports," a spokesperson told Fox Business.
"We expect additional flight delays this evening as we work through this issue.
"Safety is our top priority, and we'll work with our customers to get them to their destinations."
Travelers told CNN their experiences at airports had been "pretty rough."
Jessica Jeffers, who was on a flight heading from Denver to Newark, was stuck on her aircraft for two hours waiting for answers.
She claimed passengers were given an ultimatum of disembarking the plane or wait on board.
"The air condition has been running really low so we have essentially been baking in here for hours," she told CNN.
Between 50 and 60 planes were left sitting on the tarmac at Denver, travelers claimed on X.
Some passengers were left waiting on board planes for three hours, according to the CW affiliate WGN-TV.
Travelers took to social media to complain about the travel chaos.
"I just spent 3 hours in Newark with my flight delayed and just arrived in Charlotte," Robert Hillman posted on X.
"And after 2 hour, you all can't find anyone in the Charlotte airport to let us off your plane."
Hillman claimed passengers were not being told when they could expect to disembark the aircraft.
Footage obtained by the NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV showed scores of travelers sitting by their gates at Chicago O'Hare airport.
Passengers were seen scrolling their cell phones when they should've been boarding planes.
Some flights were canceled.
United bosses offered customers $200 after they were put up in hotels.
The technology issue also caused airport taxiing and disembarking systems to go down.
Travelers told WGN that some planes had to be pulled manually to the gates.
A cyber scare wasn't behind the outage, according to United.
United planes were grounded just weeks after an IT issue impacted Alaska Airlines jets.
4
4
More to follow... For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
United Airlines flight canceled after female passenger had 'biohazard' diarrhea that destroyed bathroom
A woman has freely admitted that she caused a United Airlines flight to be canceled after spending an hour and a half destroying the plane's tiny bathroom with her diarrhea and vomit. Meghan Reinertsen, a writer and actor, said the nightmare journey happened about a year ago when she was coming home from Portugal. The first symptoms of what she would later find out was food poisoning struck her at Newark Liberty International Airport just moments before she was supposed to board her connecting flight back to Indianapolis. 'Something is brewing. Something is happening that I am not prepared to deal with,' she said in a TikTok video that has gotten nearly 20 million views. Despite her reservations, she boarded the plane and 'hoped for the best'. She spent the next 30 minutes in her window seat crying, sweating profusely and writhing in abject pain. The plane eventually took off. For much of that time, she was only staying seated because the seatbelt sign was on, but at some point, she remembered the story of the woman on a Delta plane who pooped her pants in her seat mid-flight. 'I couldn't let that happen to me,' she said. 'I make it to the bathroom, and for the next 20 minutes I have more diarrhea than any human should ever have in their life.' While she was in the bathroom, she began feeling the urge to throw up as well. She said she panicked in the tiny, claustrophobic area before she had the presence of mind to scream for help from the flight attendants, who gave her bags. The flight crew allowed her to stay in the bathroom for the entire flight. They even got special clearance from the pilot to allow her to remain where she was for landing. Reinertsen said she couldn't make it back to her seat in her condition, which prompted the flight attendant to tell her through the door to 'brace for impact'. Once they were on the ground, she was told that the next flight with that plane had been canceled. 'A flight attendant comes over and says, "Everybody's off the plane now, go ahead and take your time and come out when you can, the next flight has been cancelled,"' Reinertsen said. 'In the moment, I'm not thinking it is because of me.' The flight attendant then told her that a hazmat team would be coming to clean up her mess. 'Got it, so you canceled that flight because of you don't know if I brought something back from Portugal. And I am a biohazard. I am patient zero,' she said. She even had to be put in a wheelchair when she was ready to disembark because she couldn't walk. 'They had to wheel me off this plane. I can't walk. They gotta get me in a wheelchair,' she said. They wheeled her to baggage claim where she had to endure the shocked stares of all her fellow passengers who undoubtedly knew she was the woman in the bathroom for the entire flight. Reinertsen said her devastating illness, which persisted days after the horrific flight, came as a result of eating an undercooked hamburger the night before her flight. United Airlines confirmed to Metro that this incident happened in July 2024. 'This incident occurred in July 2024. Our flight crew is trained to assist customers in situations like this and helped as much as they could during the flight and upon arrival in Indianapolis,' a spokesperson for the airline said in a statement.


Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Major US airline warns it will shut without cash boost... sparking fears of mass route cancellations
Spirit Airlines is warning it may not be able to continue operating, just months after emerging from bankruptcy. The budget carrier says Americans booking fewer flights than expected and a lack of cash in the bank are putting intense pressure on its business. The warning, delivered during Spirit's quarterly earnings report on Monday, raised concerns about possible flight cancellations during the summer vacation season and upcoming holidays. Bosses said tough market conditions — including too many flights and weak leisure travel demand in the April to June quarter — have led to it being forced to lower fares. They expect these challenges to continue for the rest of the year. 'Management has concluded there is substantial doubt as to Spirit's ability to continue as a going concern within 12 months from the date these financial statements are issued,' the carrier said in the filing. It needs more cash to carry on beyond that. Last month, Spirit furloughed 270 pilots and demoted another 140 as part of efforts to save money. Based in Florida and known for its bright yellow planes, Spirit filed for bankruptcy protection last November after years of losses, failed merger talks, and heavy debt. It was the first major US airline to seek Chapter 11 since 2011. The airline emerged from bankruptcy in March after creditors approved its restructuring plan and wiped out all existing shares, hitting ordinary investors. Ownership was handed to Spirit's lenders, which include investment funds managed by firms such as Citadel Advisors. Ongoing uncertainty tied to President Donald Trump's tariffs and budget cuts has caused travelers to tighten their budgets and rethink plans. Spirit also revealed that its credit card processor has demanded more funds be set aside as collateral, or the company risks losing its contract — which expires at the end of the year. To boost cash reserves, Spirit plans to sell or lease aircraft and real estate, and reduce excess airport gate capacity. The airline said doubts remain about its ability to meet financial requirements and continue operating over the next year, citing ongoing talks with stakeholders. Spirit recently rejected a proposed takeover by fellow budget airline Frontier, saying the proposed buyout offered less value for Spirit's creditors than the bankruptcy restructuring. Spirit has been struggling with losses and declining revenue since the pandemic. In fact, while it may have made profits some quarters, it has not turned an annual profit since even before the pandemic. Then as travelers began to once again take to the skies, many turned to larger airlines, leaving Spirit and other budget airlines struggling to get a foothold in the market. Spirit executives saw the merger with JetBlue as a way to claw back a market share, but the Department of Justice argued that such a deal would violate anti-trust laws Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines first planned to merge in 2022, then but JetBlue Airways swooped in with a higher bid. That won over Spirit's shareholders. Spirit executives saw the merger with JetBlue as a way to claw back a market share, but the Department of Justice argued that such a deal would violate anti-trust laws, and a judge agreed. As a result, JetBlue pulled out of a merger agreement. Spirit was in talks with Frontier again in October as it hoped to revive merger discussions. Frontier´s latest offer would have allowed Spirit Airlines to retain 19 percent of the company's equity. But Spirit said the offer carried additional financial costs, including costs associated with a longer stay in bankruptcy, and more risks, including the risk that U.S. regulators would reject the merger of the two airlines. Meanwhile, in December Silver Airways also filed for Chapter 11. The airline flies to vacation hotspots across Florida and the Caribbean - prompting fears for the fate of trips planned by Americans looking for winter sun.


Metro
2 hours ago
- Metro
Woman grounds plane after 'biohazard' diarrhoea during flight
An American woman grounded a plane after she suffered a bout of diarrhoea and vomiting during the flight. The plane had to go through an extensive deep-clean after a woman's sickness bug made the toilet unusable. Meghan Reinertsen admitted on TikTok that she experienced every traveller's worst nightmare, trapped thousands of feet above ground in a tiny plane toilet cubicle. She claims her uncontrollable food poisoning grounded a United Airlines flight at Indianapolis after her diarrhoea made the toilet 'a biohazard.' Meghan, a writer and actor who works as a nanny, got violently ill on her way back from Portugal to Indianapolis via Newark, New Jersey. She said she was already feeling unwell at Newark airport, but decided to risk it and board the plane despite feeling 'a disturbance, deep deep.' Shortly after take-off, she had to rush to the bathroom as she was hit by 'full body sweating, I'm crying, my insides are cramping.' She was forced to ignore the seatbelt on sign and rush to the toilet before the worst could happen in front of hundreds of fellow passengers, saying 'I couldn't let that happen to me.' 'For the next 20 minutes, I have more diarrhoea than any human should have in their life.' Her nightmare didn't end there as she began feeling something else rise in her stomach, which prompted her to scream help from the flight attendants to bring her a bag. Norovirus often causes outbreaks during the winter, but it can also be caught while travelling. Known as the vomiting bug, norovirus causes vomiting and diarrhoea. The symptoms can start suddenly and include: feeling sick being sick (vomiting) diarrhoea It can also include a high temperature, a headache, tummy pain and body aches. Those with the bug should wait for two days to be free of vomiting and diarrhoea before going back to school, work or nursery. The seasoned crew, who have seen it all, let her stay in the bathroom for the entire flight. She was told to 'brace for impact' while staying in the toilet during landing, when passengers normally have to get back to their seats. On the ground, Reinertsen was helped out in a wheelchair before a haz-mat team was reportedly brought in to deal with the mess. She said: 'A flight attendant comes over and says, 'Everybody's off the plane now, go ahead and take your time and come out when you can, the next flight has been cancelled.'' 'In the moment, I'm not thinking it is because of me. 'They had to wheel me off the plane in a wheelchair and wheel me to baggage claim.' She said staff told her that a haz-mat team rolled in later to clean the insides of the plane in case 'I brought something back from Portugal.' 'I'm a biohazard, I'm a patient zero,' Reinertsen added. More Trending Her explosive admission on social media attracted thousands of reactions. One woman, who said she was working for United out of Indianapolis at the time, said the crews were 'shocked that a flight had to be cancelled. She said: 'I was on the ramp so we had to tow the plane to spot where we could overnight it. If it makes you feel better, I don't think the cleaning crew ever said anything.' A spokesperson for United Airlines told Metro: 'This incident occurred in July 2024. Our flight crew is trained to assist customers in situations like this and helped as much as they could during the flight and upon arrival in Indianapolis.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: How four people survived one of the deadliest plane crashes that killed 520 MORE: Virgin Atlantic relaunches flights to 'iconic' winter sun destination after 6 years MORE: Dear JD Vance, here are a few Cotswolds gems that might spice up your holiday