United Airlines said in a statement to The Washington Post that it was restoring its schedule for Friday after a “major” software outage that affected systems used for calculating aircraft weights, check-in services and its call support center.
Customers were encouraged to reschedule their travel plans on the airline’s website, and according to the waiver issued, travelers can reschedule their trip without any change fees or fare differences on United Airlines tickets between July 18 and July 25, as long as the tickets are booked in the same cabin and between the same cities.
Delta has issued travel waivers for all customers booked for flights departing on Friday, allowing customers to manage their travel changes through delta.com and the Fly Delta app. For travel rebooked before July 24 in the same service cabin as originally booked, customers will have the fare difference waived. For travel rebooked after July 24, the fare difference between the original and new ticket will be collected at the time of booking. Customers can monitor and manage their itineraries on Delta.com or the Fly Delta app.
American Airlines resumed operations by 5 a.m. Friday, but according to a post by X, customers scheduled to fly to or from certain airports, including DCA, will be waiving change fees if they travel between July 18 and 25. For the waiver to apply, tickets must be booked on Friday, in the same fare class as originally booked, and between the same cities.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Southwest said the outage “has not directly affected our operations.” Travelers reported delays Friday morning, but Southwest had no travel advisories or exemptions related to the outage posted on its website or app.
“Reservations, check-in, obtaining boarding passes and certain flights may be affected during this time,” Frontier Airlines posted to X on Thursday night, with a subsequent post encouraging affected customers to consult the airline’s travel advisory page.
Frontier customers whose flights are delayed by more than three hours or canceled can rebook on the next available flight at no extra cost, or if they cancel, get a full airline credit or a full refund in their original form of payment, the page states. However, affected customers will not be able to receive hotel, ground transportation vouchers, meals or other accommodations. This is because, as the airline states online, “this event was outside of Frontier’s control.”
Spirit Airlines said in a social media post Friday morning that because of the service outage, “we are currently unable to rebook customers whose travel plans have been disrupted.” Travelers whose flights were affected were told to wait for instructions until service was restored.
JetBlue said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post that operations remain normal and that there are no systemwide cancellations or delays. But the company urged customers to monitor their flights and “allow additional time in case this outage affects specific airports due to outages by other airlines, airport operators or government agencies.”
Allegiant Air told the Post that it began “restoring its systems” at 2 p.m. on Friday. The company said its customer care team would email affected customers with options to receive a full refund or rebook their flight.
