Tech outage disrupts travel plans for many traveling to Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The recent widespread flight delays and cancellations due to a worldwide tech outage have left travelers frustrated and stranded.
Although the Columbia Regional Airport reported no issues with Microsoft's systems, travelers in Mid-Missouri still faced disruptions with their connecting flights. The outage included state government networks, including the Office of Administration and Department of Corrections.
Among the top airports affected, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport ranked second on Flight Aware's Misery Map for cancellations and delays. This heavily impacted passengers like Angela Taflampas, a mother trying to visit her daughter. Taflampas was traveling from Tampa, Florida, to Missouri and was supposed to have a connecting flight in Chicago to Columbia Regional Airport.
"Oh, it was so stressful. I mean, you know, flying is stressful enough," Taflampas said. " So that was just a lot of stress and also the emotions that a mother has of you know, I don't want to let my daughter down,"
Similarly, the Dallas Fort-Worth Airport -- listed as fifth on Flight Aware's Misery Map -- impacted University of Missouri volleyball player Colleen Finney, who was heading back to Columbia before school starts.
"So these last 24 hours have been very hectic for me. I started off in Las Vegas. I was there for an internship. I flew from Las Vegas to Dallas, but there was a flight delay of three hours," Finney said.
The delays forced Finney to spend Thursday night in Dallas, with the repeated 15-minute delay notifications stretching her patience.
"So I had to spend the night in Dallas last night, woke up this morning, my mom's blowing up my phone," Finney said. "She's telling me about some cyber power outage. And so my flight this morning got delayed another hour, but I finally made it back a couple hours ago,"
She noted that every gate around her in the packed Las Vegas airport faced similar delays.
"So the one in Vegas was packed. And honestly, when I was looking at my flight getting delayed, every single gate around me was delayed by at least two hours," Finney said.
Taflampas said she was notified of multiple delays leading up to her flight, until it was canceled.
"I counted about 10 emails that I received from American (Airlines) in the span of maybe an hour and a half prior to departure time. And it was just so rapid-fire," Taflampas said.
Despite the frustration, she was assured by American Airlines that her reward miles would be reinstated immediately.
The arrival group at 4:52 p.m. reported that travel has returned to normal. Passengers have not experienced extreme delays or cancellations and are actually arriving earlier than expected. However, one man said his flight from COU to Chicago O'Hare at 7 p.m. was canceled.
The last plane to arrive in Columbia from Dallas is set to land at 10:49 p.m.
