A widespread Microsoft outage on Friday caused disruptions to aviation, banking, media and businesses around the world, including in the Chicago area.
The confusion spread and continued for several hours even after the tech company said it was gradually resolving the issues affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Downdetector, a website that tracks user-reported internet outages, recorded an increase in service outages for Visa, ADT Security, Amazon and airlines including American Airlines and Delta Airlines.
Here’s what you need to know:
what happened?
The US tech giant said late on Thursday that the outage could cause customers to experience issues across several services.
“Users may lose access to various Microsoft 365 apps and services,” according to a Microsoft webpage that tracks the status of the company’s services. The issue affects apps such as Microsoft Fabric, Teams, Purview, Defender, SharePoint and OneNote, according to the tracker.
Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was “working to reroute affected traffic to alternate systems to more quickly mitigate the impact” and that it was “seeing positive trends in service availability.”
The company did not respond to a request for comment or provide further details about the cause of the outage.
Microsoft said Friday that most of its services had been restored, but the company said some customers in the region may still be experiencing issues, according to CNBC.
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Our services are continually being improved as mitigation measures continue to be implemented. For more information, please see MO821132 in our Admin Center and https://t.co/Htn4qQEnsp.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 19, 2024
Flights, emergency services: What is the impact of the outage?
The FAA announced that United, American, Delta and Allegiant airlines have suspended flights across the US.
In the Chicago area, power outages are affecting several flights at O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport.
Delta Air Lines reported that it was “suspending all Delta flights while it addresses a vendor technology issue.”
“All customers whose flights are affected will be notified by Delta via the FlyDelta app and text message, and customers should stay with the FlyDelta app for the latest updates. We apologize for any inconvenience caused while our teams work to resolve this issue. We have reports that other airlines may also be affected,” Delta said in a statement.
American Airlines said it was “aware of the technical issue” that was affecting multiple airlines.
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We are aware of a vendor technical issue affecting multiple airlines. American Airlines is working with the vendor to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.
— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) July 19, 2024
United Airlines said the outage was “impacting computer systems globally.”
“All aircraft are remaining at their departure airports while we work to restore our systems. Flights already in the air are continuing to their destinations,” the airline said in a statement.
In addition to flights, Illinois State Police reported that its police department experienced technical issues during the outage, but 911 services continued to function.
What in the world is going on?
British airlines, trains and television stations are being disrupted by computer problems, including low-cost airline Ryanair, train operators TransPennine Express and Govia Thameslink, and broadcaster Sky News.
Widespread problems were reported at Australian airports, with online check-in services and self-service booths unavailable, causing long queues and leaving some passengers stranded. In Melbourne, passengers waited for more than an hour to check in.
“We are currently experiencing disruption across our network due to a global third-party IT outage which is outside our control,” Ryanair said in a statement, adding: “We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure.”
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport said on its website that the outage was having a “major impact on flights” to and from the busy European hub. The outage came on one of the airport’s busiest days of the year, marking the start of many people’s summer holidays.
In Germany, Berlin airport announced on Friday morning that “technical issues will cause delays to check-in.” According to German news agency dpa, the airport said flights had been suspended until 10 a.m. (8 a.m. GMT) but did not provide further details.
At Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, some flights to the US were delayed but others were unaffected.
Australian outages reported on the site included banks such as NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra.
Australian news organisations, including the ABC and Sky News, reported television and radio broadcasts were cut off and Windows-based computers suddenly shut down, with some news anchors broadcasting live online in darkened offices in front of computers that displayed a “blue screen of death”.
Payment system outages meant shoppers were unable to make payments at some supermarkets and stores.
New Zealand banks ASB and Kiwibank have announced service outages.
X user posted a screenshot of a warning from Crowdstrike, which said it was aware of “reports of Windows host crashes” related to its Falcon Sensor platform. The warning was posted on a password-protected Crowdstrike site and could not be verified. Crowdstrike did not respond to a request for comment.
