MSP Airport flights, Metro Transit and some government agencies affected by global Microsoft outage

MINNEAPOLIS — The global Microsoft outage is causing mass flight cancellations and delays nationwide Friday morning, including at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The outage is being caused by a CrowdStrike software glitch .

As of about 8:30 a.m., some airlines were beginning to resume operations after the morning ground stops.

"Cancellations and delays could continue throughout the day with slower check-in and wait times. Please contact airlines directly for the latest flight status," the airline instructed.

Jeff Lea with the Metropolitan Airports Commission said earlier that some flights were able to depart early Friday morning, while many others were delayed or canceled.

"If you come out here, you may experience long wait times," Lea said.

He says MSP's website and departure boards were also being impacted.

"Information like our flight screens haven't been updated because of those issues and so it may not be as reliable, even the MSP Airport website may not be as reliable," Lea said. "There's interconnected systems, communication systems and reservation systems and the like that may be impacted. And so airlines are impacted and some have put a ground stop to their flights."

Lea urges customers to contact their airline directly for the latest updates before heading to MSP.

"Whether 1-800 number, their app or their website. Those modes will have the latest information," he said. "We don't want people to get congested on our roadways, parking ramps, certainly (inside the terminals). A lot of these folks have flights out this morning, they may still see cancellations, delays as they get through the checkpoint, we don't know. If you can save yourself time and handle that or get the latest information from home, that would be much easier for everybody."

Lea also wants travelers to be prepared for a "domino effect," similar to what occurs during winter storm cancelations.

"Even as IT systems maybe get back online, which we're very hopeful, it could have a ripple effect in the schedule well into the day, or evening or beyond," he said.

Online systems at Metro Transit affected

Metro Transit says it is experiencing disruptions to the online systems, such as trip planning tools and the web store. The buses and trains are operating as normal.

Technical outage impacts municipal services

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office on Friday morning said the IT outage is impacting some of its services, though 911 is continuing to operate. In Anoka County, the outage is impacting services at License Centers, and in Stearns County, it is affecting the sheriff's office's administrative number, but 911 is still working.

The City of White Bear Lake says the License Bureau is unable to process driver's licenses, permits, and certain vehicle transactions.

WCCO has also been experiencing technical difficulties amid the outage caused by a CrowdStrike software glitch and are working to rectify the issue.