Columbia, Missouri (KMIZ)
Recent technological outages around the world have caused widespread flight delays and cancellations, leaving travelers frustrated and stranded.
Columbia Regional Airport reported no issues with its Microsoft systems, but travelers in Mid-Missouri were still experiencing disruptions to connecting flights. The outages also affected state government networks, including those for the Department of Administration and the Department of Corrections.
Of the major airports affected, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport ranked second for cancellations and delays on FlightAware’s Misery Map. This had a major impact on passengers like Angela Tafframpass, a mother who was trying to visit her daughter. Tafframpass was traveling from Tampa, Florida, to Missouri and was scheduled to catch a connecting flight in Chicago to Columbia Regional Airport.
“Oh, it was so stressful. Just getting on a plane is stressful enough,” Taffranpas said, “so it was just so stressful and also as a mother, I don’t want to let my daughter down.”
Similarly, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, ranked fifth on Flight Aware’s misery map, affected University of Missouri volleyball player Colleen Finney, who was on her way back to Columbia before school started.
“The last 24 hours have been very busy for me. I flew out of Las Vegas. I was there for an internship. I flew from Las Vegas to Dallas and my flight was delayed three hours,” Finney said.
The delays forced Finney to spend Thursday night in Dallas, where multiple notices of 15-minute delays wore on her patience.
“So I had to stay overnight in Dallas last night, and this morning I woke up to my mom’s phone ringing off the hook,” Finney said. “She told me about the cyber power down, so my flight got delayed another hour this morning, but I finally got back two hours ago.”
She noted similar delays were occurring at all surrounding gates at the busy Las Vegas airport.
“The airport in Las Vegas was packed, and I’ll be honest with you, when I saw my flight was delayed, all the gates around me were delayed by at least two hours,” Finney said.
Tahlampath said she was notified of the delay multiple times before her flight was cancelled.
“I got like 10 emails from American Airlines about an hour and a half before we were supposed to leave. It was really rapid-fire,” Taffranpas said.
She was frustrated, but American Airlines assured her that her award miles would be reinstated soon.
A group arriving at 4:52pm reported that travel was returning to normal – passengers were not experiencing extreme delays or cancellations, and were actually arriving earlier than expected – but one man said his 7pm flight from COU to Chicago O’Hare had been cancelled.
The last flight from Dallas to Columbia is scheduled to land at 10:49 p.m.
