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United Airlines grounds all its flights across the US for a few hours due to ‘technology disruption’

United Airlines has finally resumed its operations after a suspended flight stoppage.
posted by Shreya Ghosh
Thursday 8/7/2025 at 8:02AM EDT
  • United Airlines (Image via Getty)
    United Airlines (Image via Getty)

    In an unfortunate turn of events, United Airlines had to halt its regular domestic flight operations in the United States on August 6, 2025. Reportedly, the concerned department cited a "technology issue" causing the temporary pause. 

    The unexpected disruption affected a huge number of passengers' travel schedules. After a standstill for a few hours, the airline resolved the significant glitch, followed by ending the flight groundings in multiple airports in the U.S. 

    In a conversation with People on Wednesday, an airline spokesperson released a statement, explaining,

    "We are working with customers to get them to their destinations after a technology disruption on Wednesday evening. The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and, while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations."

    The representative also reiterated that the outage had no connection with the "recent concerns about cybersecurity in the airline industry."

    Everything we know about the United Airlines flight disruptions in the U.S.

    On Wednesday, social media platforms were flooded with posts reporting the sudden setback in the regular flow of operations of United Airlines. While the airline encountered the troubling obstacle only in the U.S., the few hours of continuous flight groundings caused an extensive disarray. 

    According to a People report, published on August 6, the technical issue was first reported at 6:12 PM ET. As the airline rep noted, the malfunction took "a few hours" to resolve. However, the "residual delays continued into Wednesday night."

    The technical error cancelled many domestic flights and delayed over 1,000 journeys on Wednesday, as reported by CNN. United Airlines' balance computer system and overall weight triggered the glitch. The outlet also confirmed the Federal Aviation Administration addressing the widespread interference, stating, 

    "We're aware United experienced a technology issue disrupting their operations. Some delays may continue as they work through the recovery process."

    As USA Today confirmed, the FFA further added,

    "We’ve offered full support to help address their flight backlog and remain in close contact with United."

    According to the updates provided by the Federal Aviation Administration system, flights were affected in airports in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark, and San Francisco, too, CNN further added. Passenger Angela Jeffers spoke with the outlet and reflected on the distress. While travelling from Nashville to Denver, she faced a two-hour flight delay for a technical disruption. Recalling a pilot notifying the travellers about the delay, she shared the pilot saying,

    "We’re missing some numbers we need to take off so we can’t take off yet and don’t have a time estimate of when we’ll be able to."

    Later, she also informed the outlet that the authorities told the passengers that several people started boarding their flights at about 9:30 PM ET. However, they were also alerted that not every flight could board at that time due to major traffic. To compensate for the circumstances, the airline offered a hotel stay and a flight for the next day, according to Angela's statement.

    Her sister, Jessica's journey was also affected by the outage, and she had to wait at an airport in Denver for around two hours last night. Sharing updates from around 9 PM ET with CNN, Jessica said,

    "It’s been pretty rough over here. I have been stuck for about two hours on a plane in Denver waiting to go to Newark; with us just now having the option to either deboard or stay on and wait with no direction about what’s going on. The air conditioning has been running really low so we have been essentially baking in here for hours."

     

    Several social media users voiced their opinions and anger due to the long wait at airports across the U.S. X (formerly Twitter) user Alan Billman (@alanbillman) shared his experience on the platform, noting,

    "@united flights sitting on the Denver Airport tarmac due to computer issues in Chicago. They pulled us out of the terminals so those landing could deplane. I count at least 50-60 planes sitting and waiting."

    Raising concerns about the surprising event, he asked,

    "How do large airlines not have redundant backup systems?"

    Netizen @Antistupiddog updated on X,

    "@united #unitedAIRLINES people starting to get desperate . It’s incredible there’s no other way to get us out of this plane"

    @TreyWallace_ posted last night,

    "Ok, United airlines is offering folks $1,000 and hotel vouchers for 5 people to stay an extra night, fly out tomorrow for a flight heading to Williston, ND. Are you taking the offer, or forcing them to make the decision? It’s about to get tense"

    TOPICS: United Airlines