Hundreds of NYC area flights impacted by global Microsoft outage

NEW YORK -- Hundreds of flights are canceled or delayed at New York City airports after a CrowdStrike update caused a global Microsoft outage early Friday morning.

Tri-State Area officials stressed this was not a cyberattack, and most critical services, like 911, hospitals and mass transit, were not impacted.

Delta, United & American flights grounded overnight

The outage first impacted Frontier Airlines late Thursday night. Several major airlines, including American, United and Delta, then requested ground stops from the Federal Aviation Administration around 2:30 a.m. Friday, citing communication issues.

American and United started resuming some flights around 5 a.m., but Delta remained grounded until about 8 a.m.

As of 12:30 p.m., John F. Kennedy International Airport reported 285 delays and 74 cancellations, LaGuardia Airport reported 345 delays and 143 cancellations, and Newark Liberty International Airport reported 289 delays and 156 cancellations.

"Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5:00 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience," American said in a statement.

"A third-party outage is impacting computer systems, including at United and many other organizations worldwide. As we work to fully restore these systems, some flights are resuming. Many customers traveling today may experience delays," United said.

"Delta has resumed some flight departures after a vendor technology issue impacted several airlines and businesses around the world. That issue necessitated a pause in Delta's global flight schedule this morning while it was addressed," said Delta.

The airlines are all offering travel waivers, so people can rebook their flights for another time.

"All the computers died"

CBS New York's Christina Fan spoke with travelers in Newark about the issues overnight. Many said they learned about the news as they arrived at the airport and saw the lines.

"We tried to check in like three hours before we got here, like at 2 a.m., and it wasn't working. So once we got here, there's literately a line this long," one woman said, adding it took about three hours to get to the ticket counter.

"Terrible, people spend thousands of dollars to go on vacation or go home or go visit family, and this is the situation that we got put through - between these airline companies that make millions of dollars," said one man.

"I'm going to my family reunion, so I'm anxious, I'm scared a little bit. But I'll be alright, I'm just going to stay here until the line clears," another woman added.

Ticket agents were forced to issue hand-written boarding passes, rather than printing them out at kiosks.

"I just flew from Panama, and when I boarded in the David airport to Panama City, all the computers died. And we just thought it was local. So they started hand writing all of the boarding passes," said one woman. "So we were very delayed getting out of there, in Panama. Now, they just told me at the United desk that they're completely down, it's worldwide."

Check your flight status

Travelers should check with their carriers for individual flight information.

Use the following links for local airports:

• JFK flight tracker
• LaGuardia flight tracker
• Newark flight tracker

NYC buses, subways and trains up and running

Despite the issues at local airports, the MTA said buses, subways, LIRR and Metro-North trains were up and running for the morning commute. Some customer service tools, like the screens that display arrival times, were impacted.

"We established quickly that there is no impact to subway service, no impact to the bus system, no impact to the commuter rails and no impact to the paratransit operations," MTA Chair Janno Lieber said Friday morning. "The impacts that are customer-facing are limited to one portion of our countdown clocks on the B division, which is the letter trains, are not operating. But I've told New Yorkers: The trains are coming, they're coming on regular schedules, and you can count on it, you just might not have the countdown clock available."

Lieber added tolls are being collected as usual, jokingly that it's "bad news for some people, I know."

NJ Transit said its service was not impacted either, but some ticket vending machines went down. Amtrak said the outage also impacted its credit card payments, but Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal were still working.

Meanwhile, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles is unable to process transactions, and both the New Jersey MVC and Connecticut DMV say they are experiencing interruptions and delays.

"Customers who can't be serviced during this period may reschedule online or will be offered a courtesy return pass," New Jersey's MVC posted on social media.

Stick with CBS New York for the latest updates on this developing story.