Dozens of United Airlines flights have been delayed following a “systems issue” which could be the result of a cyber attack.
As reported by The Independent, the issue has affected more than 60 flights worldwide, the first being a flight from the UK to Washington D.C. which was due out at 7.30am, with passengers being told the take-off would be delayed by an hour.
A spokesman for United told The Independent: “We are aware of an issue with our systems that is resulting in flight delays.
“We are working to resolve the issue and get customers to their destinations as soon as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
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https://twitter.com/statuses/786816304548163586
United has since said the problem has been resolved, tweeting: “As of 3 am ET [Eastern Time], the system issue has been resolved. Any delayed flights are resuming.”
According to NBC News, United initially said 63 flights were affected, but later ammended its statement, saying the problem related to “a small number of flights.”
NBC also reports there were two separate problems with United’s systems, one relating to the luggage weighing systems, which was resolved late Thursday, and another which caused further delays, before being resolved at 3 am ET.
Naturally customers are not happy, taking to Twitter to voice their frustration:
https://twitter.com/statuses/786819456760549377
The latest flight delay issue follows a similar incident in August when Delta Airlines experienced a worldwide systems failure, resulting in hundreds of flights being cancelled.
At the time, some speculated that the airline had been hit by a cyber attack but Delta maintained the problem was the result of a power issue, denying any hacking had taken place.
British Airways passengers also experience delays last month after what the airline referred to as “a problem with our check-in system”.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
