Travel chaos lingers at RDU after tech outage grounds flights, frustrates passengers

A major tech outage Friday continues to wreak havoc on travel, leaving airlines struggling to catch up and passengers facing delays and cancellations.

Air travel took the biggest hit, with thousands of flights grounded and crews misplaced.

Airports are still working Saturday to resolve check-in and security issues, leading to long lines and crowded terminals.

While passengers report slight improvements after a frustrating two days, many remain stranded. At Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), several boards still display delays and cancellations for major airlines like United, Delta, and American.

Friday’s outage crippled airlines’ computer systems, leading to widespread flight cancellations and passenger processing delays.

Passengers who rebooked for Saturday face additional delays, describing a stressful situation with last-minute changes and long airport waits.

“Our flight had been canceled,” said Marlena King. “They kept getting pushed back, so then we get there and they say, ‘Oh, this is your terminal now.’ Then we get there, and they say, ‘We can’t put you on a flight yet because we don’t have a flight attendant.’ So we’re like, ‘Okay.’ So it went from 12 to 1 to now,”

Raquel Fletcher echoed the frustration: “As soon as we got here, I got a text message that it was delayed 4 hours, but our ride already left, so we’re just going to wait it out and hope that it does leave when it says it’s going to leave.”

While some progress is being made today, passengers are exhausted and eager to know their flight status so they can plan accordingly.