Global tech outage strands passengers at LAX, other airports; hospitals also hit

Airlines, banks, healthcare systems, government agencies and other industries across California scrambled to recover Friday from the effects of a widespread global technology outage.

Roughly 100 flights had been canceled by midmorning Friday at Los Angeles International Airport, and even more were delayed. Overnight, travelers facing long delays and cancellations were resigned to trying to get some sleep on the airport's well-trodden carpeted floor. Some used their luggage as pillows. Travelers at other California airports were facing similar issues.

The chaos stemmed from a faulty update sent by CrowdStrike, a Texas-based cybersecurity firm whose software is widely used, that interfered with the core functions of computers running Microsoft Windows. This caused Microsoft’s infamous “Blue Screen of Death” to pop up and convey a message along the lines of, “Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart.” The outage was not a security incident or a cyberattack, the company said.

The company's president and chief executive, George Kurtz, posted a message on X Friday morning saying a fix had been made.

"We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption. We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on," Kurtz said.

Meanwhile, the defect rippled across technology worldwide. There were reports that some airports were beginning to restart service, but it was unclear when operations would return to normal.

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services wrote on X that officials are "closely monitoring the global software outage."

"Initial reports indicate minor state system outages," the office wrote. "However, all 911, public safety communications and critical infrastructure is functioning as expected."

LAX first started to see glitches late Thursday. The outages were initially limited to Frontier Airlines and a few others and were caused partially by a software issue with Navitaire, a boarding pass printing system. The issue grew as more and more airlines began to face the same problems. Delta, American and United airlines were also affected.

A representative for LAX stressed that the issues facing the airport did not affect flight safety. When a patch of code that caused the problem was fixed in CrowdStrike, the airport started to see airlines come back online, but it is still facing many more delays and cancellations than usual.

On Wednesday, there were 14 cancellations out of LAX. But on Friday, the airport already had more than 70 cancellations before 7 a.m. An hour later that number had swelled to 100 cancellations and 188 delays. At San Francisco International Airport, the numbers were similar. There were 16 cancellations on Wednesday compared with 76 so far Friday morning.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been in touch with leadership at Los Angeles World Airports who are "working actively to resolve travel issues," said Zach Seidl, a spokesman for the mayor.

"Travelers at LAX and other regional airports should plan ahead for potential delays," he said.

Frustration among airline employees and passengers was widespread at the airport. Some tried to sleep on a luggage conveyor belt before an airport employee shouted for them to get up.

"It was terrible. It is terrible," said Elissa Moore, 29. "’Cause we're still going through it."

Shortly before 6 a.m., a Delta representative took to the intercom to tell passengers that the airport was still allowing planes to land, but that for the time being, all outbound flights were grounded. He advised travelers who are from L.A. to “go home” and check for updates on the company’s app or website.

He added that the company’s system was completely shut down, saying the resulting crippling of flight operations was “worse than 9/11.”

Passengers reported waits of up to two hours to get through security into Terminal 2, as many people whose flights were canceled were instructed to retrieve their baggage before trying to rebook their flight.

Passengers whose flights had been canceled stood sullenly in line to rebook , but could not complete that task either because of the outages. One video out of LAX showed a woman hugging a Delta employee as she cried.

Outside were dozens of planes on the tarmac with nowhere to go.

Gabrielle Watson, an L.A.-based DJ and music producer, arrived at LAX on Thursday night to catch her 11:59 p.m. United Airlines flight to Chicago with a connection to Columbus, Ohio, so she could play a set Friday at the Secret Dreams Festival.

The artist knew there were problems immediately when she got to her gate and saw the blue screens displayed. Still, her flight boarded and she remained on the plane for hours as delays ravaged the airport.

After about three hours, passengers deplaned and Watson went home, realizing she was not going to make her connecting flight in Chicago. Her flight was canceled about five hours after its scheduled departure time. When she returned to the airport Friday morning, she was met with chaos.

"There were a lot of upset people," she said. "They were spread around on floors everywhere trying to be comfortable waiting for information. It was very stressful and a bit dark."

The impacts from the outage went beyond aviation.

The Department of Motor Vehicles was forced to scale back services at offices across California. Online services and kiosks were not affected by the outage, according to the agency.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said it was experiencing the same computer software outage. The hospital was still open Friday and the outage's specific effects weren't immediately clear.

"We are actively working to address the issue and minimize any impacts," the hospital wrote in a prepared statement. "We thank our patients and our staff for their flexibility during this unexpected event."

Los Angeles County Superior Court was forced to postpone cases where litigants were scheduled to appear remotely on Friday. The court in a prepared statement said they are "rapidly working to reestablish connectivity."

A terminal at the Port of Los Angeles and four terminals at the Port of Long Beach were temporarily affected by the outage overnight. It's not yet clear how much cargo was affected. The ports are operating normally, officials said Friday.

KGO-TV, the ABC affiliate in San Francisco, said that "due to software issues that's affecting ABC stations and other companies worldwide, we couldn't go on air as scheduled for our 11 p.m. newscast.

Britain’s National Health Service said the outage caused problems at most doctors’ offices across England. Some hospitals in northern Germany canceled all elective surgery scheduled for Friday, but emergency care was unaffected.

In South Africa, at least one major bank said it was experiencing nationwide service disruptions as customers reported they were unable to make payments using their bank cards in stores. The New Zealand banks ASB and Kiwibank said their services were also down.

Times staff writers Joseph Serna and Jon Healey and the Associated Press contributed to this report .

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .