Technical glitch disrupts United flights nationwide

A computer glitch grounded many United Airlines flights for nearly two hours Wednesday morning, snarling the airline's schedule around the country and creating long lines at airports.

The carrier said by 10:50 a.m. ET that it was "recovering" from the "network connectivity issue," attributed to a faulty router, and was working to get passengers to their destinations.

Sandra Pineau-Boddison, United's senior vice president for customers, issued a video statement through Twitter that said thousands of workers were striving to help travelers get to their destinations. She suggested checking united.com for updates about flight information.

"First and foremost let me apologize for the technology issues we had this morning," she said. "We absolutely recognize this is a disruption to your travel and we do appreciate your business and loyalty."

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United confirmed disruptions to its schedule. The airline said it had canceled four "mainline" United flights and 55 operated by its United Express affiliates. Delays were more widespread, with about 1,200 across United's nationwide network as of late Wednesday afternoon.

The airline said it was making progress in restoring normal operations, but warned residual delays were possible into the evening. United also waived change fees for affected customers. Additionally, customers scheduled to travel Wednesday were being permitted to change their plans without penalty – with some restrictions – to avoid problems while the airline works to get back on schedule.

"An issue with a router degraded network connectivity for various applications, causing this morning's operational disruption," United said in a statement to USA TODAY. "We fixed the router issue, which is enabling us to restore normal functions."

Jeh Johnson, secretary of Homeland Secretary and former Defense Department general counsel, said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Wednesday that the three computer problems today at United Airlines, the New York Stock Exchange and the Wall Street Journal weren't the result of terrorists.

"It appears from what we know at this stage that the malfunctions at United and the stock exchange were not the result of any nefarious actor," Johnson said after speaking personally with United CEO Jeff Smisek. "We know less about the Wall Street Journal at this point, except that their system is back up again."

United suffered several similar reservation system glitches since its merger with Continental in 2010. The most recent came June 2, when United temporarily grounded its nationwide schedule for about 30 minutes in the morning due to what it said was a technical glitch. United never specified the cause. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) labeled it as an "automation issue" — the same language used when the agency issued a temporary ground stop for Wednesday's outage.

At airports around the country, the airline's customers took to social media to report their displeasure with long check-in lines and delayed flights. In some airports, United's flight information boards went blank.

At Denver International Airport, a major United hub, hundreds of passengers waited in lines to rebook flights as airline staff tried to keep things moving smoothly. Display boards showed one-hour delays for most flights. Overwhelmed counter agents tried to smooth over the problems for passengers loaded with luggage, strollers and sporting equipment.

Justin Rusthoven, 16, waited with his fellow Austin-area Boy Scouts for their delayed flight home, a small canoe paddle sticking out of his backpack. Troop 61 was heading back to Texas after a canoe trip in Canada and a series of cascading flight delays via Minneapolis and Denver.

"I had planned on being at work today," scout leader Chuck Stager said. "We're looking forward to getting home."

"Members of the under-19 U.S. women's national basketball team waited amidst piles of black bags as ticket agents re-booked their flights through Washington Dulles for their travel to a tournament in Spain.

"So far we're going to make our connection," said A'ja Willson, who lives in Colorado Springs with the rest of the team at the Olympic Training Center. "We should be good."

In the New York area, where United operates a large hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, there were hopeful signs.

"UA has resumed normal operations," the Port Authority, which operates the city's big airports, said via Twitter. Still, the agency advised United fliers to "reconfirm your flight" with the carrier.

Mutzabaugh and Jansen reported from Washington; Hughes reported from Denver.