FAA computer debacle delays hundreds of O'Hare, Midway flights

Wednesday's aviation computer meltdown snarled flights for countless business travelers, families and honeymooners at O'Hare International Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded domestic departures Tuesday evening after a computer system outage stopped the distribution of mandatory safety notices to pilots.

The ground stop was lifted around 8 a.m. Central, but by that point air traffic was in disarray across the U.S.

Business traveler Belinda Moore of Kansas waited for three hours at the airport before her American Airlines flight lifted off for O'Hare. Customer service “didn't know anything to tell us,” she said Wednesday morning in Terminal 3.

Delays averaged 43 minutes at O'Hare as of late afternoon Wednesday, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. In a 24-hour period, nearly 54% or 1,001 of the airport's 1,865 scheduled flights were late, and 125 were canceled as of 4:30 p.m.

Newlywed Chicagoans Eric and Reid Johnson waited for their luggage to be unloaded from a plane that never took off.

“We were supposed to go to Jamaica on our honeymoon,” Eric Johnson said. “Our flight got canceled. The earliest flight they could rebook us on was Friday morning.”

“We had a direct flight and now we have to connect through Philadelphia,” Reid Johnson added.

It appeared their 9 a.m. flight was on time when the couple left for O'Hare, but “we got here, and it was at 10 a.m., and then 10:39 a.m., and then it was canceled,” Eric Johnson said.

“This has never happened to us before, and what an unfortunate time for this to happen.”

Their next hurdle is rescheduling their resort booking.

Peoria mom Sue Jensen's flight to Fort Lauderdale with her two daughters for a hockey tournament was delayed for an hour.

“I'm fine if this one sticks. I just worry if, in another half-hour, I get a notice it's delayed again,” she said.

Jensen was “kind of surprised at the outage.”

“I have enough background in technology and software (that) it seems a little concerning they had that big of a glitch and shut everything down,” she said. “They've not announced the cause yet, they're back up and running. It's a little bit weird considering they've never had that sort of issue before” with notifications.

Jensen said she was not concerned about getting back on a plane, but, she added, “I wonder how much more is going happen throughout the day and if it's truly fixed.”

At Midway International Airport, delays were averaging 52 minutes. In a 24-hour period, about 60% or 322 of the airport's 540 scheduled flights were late and 54 were canceled as of 4:30 p.m.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the Hoffman Estates Democrat who's a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, weighed in on the situation Wednesday.

“I'm troubled by the situation, and while I appreciate that the FAA worked quickly to try to minimize the disruption to commercial air travel and get planes back in the air, we need to understand what happened today so we can prevent it from ever happening again,” Duckworth said in a statement. “The flying public deserves better.”

The technical issues hit smaller airports, also. At the DuPage Airport in West Chicago, “we believe there were some minor delays with regards to departures this morning but no major impact,” Executive Director Mark Doles said.

At Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling, five flights were delayed. But “the system was back on line at 8 a.m. and we've seen aircraft come and go throughout the day,” Executive Director Jeff Miller said.

Private jets have more flexibility rescheduling than major airlines, which are playing catch-up, Miller explained.

“Now the system is backlogged,” he said. “It's operating, but every airport uses the same database. ... Now everybody is updating their systems.”