'It is a hot mess' at LAX as global tech outage brings long lines

Dozens of frustrated, tired and angry travelers stranded at Los Angeles International Airport overnight spent all morning Friday desperately seeking help, underscoring the myriad of disruptions caused by a tech outage that upended air travel around the globe.

“They’re not going to do much,” a Spirit Airlines worker warned the would-be passengers shortly before 8 a.m. He asked if anyone’s flight from Thursday had been canceled and advised that the “best bet is to get your refund online.”

Among those who spoke to the worker for guidance was Eli Osei, 20. He had a flight scheduled for 11:49 p.m. Thursday. The flight first got pushed back to 12:10 a.m., then to 12:57 am.

“Then the communication stopped and then it got canceled,” Osei said as he stood with two suitcases piled on his luggage cart.

Osei said he put those two suitcases together and tried to sleep on them, but got only about 40 minutes of shut-eye before an airline announcement woke him. There was nothing that could be done.

“Which makes a lot of sense,” Osei said, noting that it was a software issue. “It seems like no one really has any answers. You can’t blame anyone.”

No blame inside the airport, perhaps. But there was already much finger-pointing.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or a cyberattack. The company said the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.

Osei had been in L.A. for an internship and was unable to go back to the Airbnb where he was staying here. A new guest had already taken his place.

“I don’t really know what I’m going to do,” he said. “I imagine I could be here for a while.”

There were early signs things may not be right when LAX's ticket scanner experienced issues, said Jason Schwarze, 42. Then he and his family spent an hour sitting on the runway Thursday night waiting to depart for Australia before their flight was ultimately canceled.

“They unloaded everyone, said here’s your bag, good luck,” he said.

He, his wife and 17-year-old son slept on the floor of the airport's check-in area because all the nearby hotels they checked were booked.

Others who planned to depart Friday morning were met with equally bad news.

Haley Daniels had her solo trip to Maui lined up for her 29th birthday, with an Airbnb and rental cars reserved and a meditation wellness session scheduled. But after her fifth hour in the Delta rebooking line, she was only halfway to the front and was losing hope.

Bryce Burrows was closer to the front and said he'd been in line for nine hours Friday. Traveling from Australia with his 13-year-old son, Toren, the 53-year-old father's patience with the airlines was wearing thin, which he said did not provide food and water to travelers until news cameras showed up.

“I don’t care about the chips and the water — I can find a bloody water machine,” he said. “We’ve been here for hours.”

The pair, on their way back to Australia after a trip to Orlando, Fla., for a space camp, had gotten little information from the airline since their Thursday night flight was canceled, he said.

After an overnight stay on the airport floor, someone finally alerted the father and son to the booking line, where they’ve spent much of Friday.

Despite the chaos, Toren, who was off school for break and vacation, wasn’t too upset by the delay.

“I am not disappointed to miss a day of school,” he said smiling.

Another person whose trip home was interrupted was Iyanah Cheatham, 21.

Cheatham had planned to head home to Columbus, Ohio, for her dad’s 60th birthday on Friday. But her early morning flight was canceled, with no update on when she could rebook.

“I won’t be able to make it,” she said. “I’m really bummed, to be honest.”

She thought about booking a new flight but last-minute tickets cost upwards of $700, she said. Instead, she headed home to Burbank.

On the lower, arrival level at LAX, luggage was stacked up at the baggage claim area. Weary travelers slumped in chairs and information kiosks were flooded with people asking questions.

Naval officer Jade Noble, 27, flew into LAX on Friday morning from San Diego for a connecting flight to Honolulu before deploying to Guam. But her connection to Hawaii was canceled and won’t be rescheduled for another five to seven days, she was told, pushing back the start of her first deployment.

“I don’t know how it’s going to be, checking in a week or two later,” she said about possibly missing the start date for her orders. A friend was driving up to take her back to San Diego while she waits for a new flight.

The only silver lining, she said, is getting extra time with loved ones.

Syeda S., 35, who declined to give her full name, got to LAX at 7 p.m Thursday for a red-eye to Washington, D.C., with her two young kids. She had packed enough to keep them fed and comfortable for an overnight flight — but not for a 15-hour stay at the airport.

At 2 a.m. she said her kids and others waiting for flights in the terminal were cranky and hungry. An airport employee delivered boxes of food to those waiting since vendors were closed.

By Friday morning, her 3-year-old daughter had developed a fever and her 2-year-old fussed as his sister slept in their mother's arms. Syeda said she was frustrated that the airport wasn’t more prepared for this sort of possibility.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” she said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .