Yesterday experienced what is being labelled as the 'Largest IT outage in history' Meanwhile one in ten Democrats call for action from US President Joe Biden.
Travellers report being stranded overnight in Wellington airport as families try to make it home on the last weekend of school holidays.
Two early-morning international Jetstar flights out of Auckland have been cancelled while travellers have reported being stranded at Wellington airport overnight after airlines and payment systems were among those hit by a global IT outage.
Auckland Airport has asked travellers and families trying to make it home over the last weekend of school holidays to allow extra time as the outage is affecting some airlines and payment systems.
Jetstar now says its systems are back up and running and travellers are able to “proceed to the airport as usual”.
Its 6.15am Auckland to Sydney and 7am Auckland to Brisbane flights today were cancelled, but a 1.05pm Jetstar flight to Brisbane is still scheduled.
Flights run by Air NZ, Qantas, Thai Airways, Fiji Airways, and Singapore Airlines have all successfully departed this morning.
A United Airlines flight that had been due to arrive from San Francisco has also been cancelled.
At Wellington airport, Air NZ flights to New Plymouth and Rotorua have been cancelled this morning, however, other Air NZ flights have successfully departed.
Morning Jetstar flights from Wellington to Auckland and Christchurch have departed.
Auckland Airport said on its Facebook page it was operating as normal.
“But a global technology outage is continuing to impact some airlines and payment services,” it said.
“If you are travelling in the next couple of days please keep an eye on updates from your airline.
“All travellers should allow a little extra time as airport teams work to get you where you need to be this weekend.”
Travellers reported being stranded at Wellington airport overnight after Jetstar's flights were cancelled.
A Jetstar spokeswoman said the airline had been hit harder than some other airlines by the outage because of its reliance on Microsoft programmes.
That included impacts on the software the airline used to communicate with passengers, which made handling the cancellations and delays tougher.
“Flights on Saturday, July 20, are currently planned to operate as scheduled. Please proceed to the airport as usual,” the airline said in a statement issued overnight.
“There may be a small number of flights impacted due to operational reasons. If your flight is impacted, we will communicate directly to you using the contact details on your booking.
“We’re continuing to offer flexibility for those customers who no longer wish to travel (free moves plus seven days or voucher refund). Please contact us via live chat to discuss your options.”
It apologised to travellers whose flights were cancelled between yesterday and 2am this morning, saying its teams are working on alternative flights for stranded passengers and will contact them as soon as possible.
Jetstar continues to be impacted by a global software issue that’s affecting airlines and businesses around the world.
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One Herald reader wrote in saying they’d been stranded overnight at Wellington airport.
“This is very annoying, I’m so angry, been at the airport since 5pm yesterday, 13 hours,” the traveller said.
They claimed they hadn’t yet been rebooked on any other flights and hadn’t been offered compensation apart from a food voucher.
Another Facebook user wrote on Jetstar NZ’s site they arrived at the airport at 7pm yesterday for a 10.30pm flight “only to be told, ‘Ah, here’s a food voucher’”.
They said there was no warning email and that they only received a text at 11pm saying the flight had been cancellled.
They were also unable to try to rebook because the systems were down.
Another mum wrote she had been trying to rebook flights for four hours last night to get her teenage son, who was stranded by himself in Christchurch airport, home after his flight was delayed several times and then cancelled.
She said she had been getting left on hold and had no answers about whether she could get her son home.
Our Customer Care teams are experiencing a high volume of calls. To ensure we’re able to help those who have imminent travel, please only call if you have travel booked within the next 48 hours. Thank you. 💜
Grandmother Christine Teesdale said she was “devastated” to hear her grandson’s first trip to New Zealand from the US in half a decade had been delayed.
“I have woken up to the news that my darling grandson was meant to have flown from Atlanta, Georgia, to Austin, Texas, [before flying to NZ] to visit his father for the first time in five years,” she told the Herald.
“Covid prevented it for three years and finally we made it happen.
“He was 11 years old when we last spent time together, now he is nearly 16. His flight has now been delayed another two days.”
Her fingers are crossed that nothing else interferes with the long-delayed family reunion.
Overseas airlines affected
Berlin Airport temporarily halted all flights, a spokesperson told Reuters. Lufthansa’s Eurowings said it was halting domestic German flights as well as flights to and from Britain until 3pm local time.
Spanish airport operator Aena reported a computer systems incident, while Lisbon airport, Portugal’s biggest, also experienced disruptions. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and Brussels Airport were also reportedly affected.
Top Dutch airline KLM said it could not handle flights on Friday and had suspended most of its operations. Air France, KLM’s parent company, also said its operations were disrupted.
Turkish Airlines was experiencing problems with ticketing, check-ins and booking, it said in a post on X. Budapest Airport said several airline check-in systems were out of operation.
Major US carriers including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines halted flights on Friday morning, citing communication issues. American Airlines later said it had re-established operations. Frontier and Spirit cancelled directives to ground planes.
Ryanair said it had cancelled a small number of flights.
An SAS spokesperson said the Scandinavian airline was expecting delays.
Qantas and Sydney Airport said planes were delayed but still flying.
Swiss air traffic control company Skyguide said it had temporarily reduced Swiss air traffic capacity by 30%.
Roughly 90% of flights at London Gatwick Airport and London Stansted Airport had been delayed or cancelled.
Indian carriers including SpiceJet, Indigo, Akasa Air, Vistara, Air India and Air India Express were also experiencing problems on Friday.
Philippines’ Cebu Air said it was facing technical issues and system downtime due to the Microsoft outage.
