CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – A pair of technology glitches reportedly left many travelers stranded on airport tarmacs for hours overnight, including in Charlotte.
The first issue began around 6:15 p.m. EST on Aug. 6, and affected United Airlines flights. The airline said the issue involved a system called “Unimatic,” which houses information about each flight and then feeds that information to other systems.
United said the issue was fixed “within a few hours,” although residual delays continued into the night. The United issues extended far beyond Charlotte and included the airline’s operations everywhere.
The second mishap — which was specific to Charlotte Douglas International Airport — began after the last flight left on Wednesday night.
Charlotte Douglas said that during a “routine upgrade” to the airport’s access control system, an “unexpected issue” impacted the operation of secure doors and jet bridges. The airport said the issue was resolved in a couple hours and that normal operations have resumed.
The delays left many passengers stuck waiting for several extra hours to get to their final destinations.
One Charlotte woman was not on an impacted flight but her family — who flew in from Denver — was.
“I was supposed to have the afternoon and evening with my family,” she said. “I rely on people to do their job to get my people from Point A to Point B in a timely and promised matter, and if not … I want to know why.”
According to FlightAware data, Charlotte Douglas had experienced only 11 delays and three cancellations as of 6:45 a.m Thursday. On Wednesday, the airport had 274 delays but only two cancellations.
Across the U.S. on Wednesday, United Airlines had nearly 1,100 flight delays and 219 cancellations. As of 6:45 a.m. Thursday, the airline already had 132 delays and 146 cancellations.
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