The Federal Aviation Administration has announced a ground stop for United Airlines flights in Chicago‘s O’Hare and several other major hubs around the United States.
Airports in Denver, Newark, Houston, and San Francisco are also impacted by the ground stops, according to an FAA alert.
Why the ground stop was ordered at five different airports wasn’t entirely clear at first, with United only having responded to random social media posts and citing a ‘system error.’
United Airlines told Daily Mail ‘a technology issue’ was the reason why the precaution was taken by the FAA.
‘Due to a technology issue, we are holding United mainline flights at their departure airports. We expect additional flight delays this evening as we work through this issue. Safety is our top priority, and we’ll work with our customers to get them to their destinations,’ United said in a statement.
This ground stop doesn’t appear to affect planes that are already in the air, ABC’s Sam Sweeney reported. Those planes will continue to their destinations as planned.
Daily Mail approached the FAA for comment.
In the hours since the ground stops were first ordered, many aboard the stuck aircrafts have taken to social media in frustration.
United Airlines planes that have landed in airports at Chicago, Denver, Newark, Houston, and San Francisco are all affected by the ground stop issued by the Federal Aviation Administration
Robert Malone, a biochemist who was thrust onto the public stage during the COVID-19 pandemic for what some said was vaccine misinformation, happened to be one of the unlucky people stranded on an affected plane.
‘I am on the tarmac for a United flight that has been grounded. The flight attendant says she is hearing that the whole United system for all planes in the USA is down right now. Let’s hope it’s fixed quickly or it is gonna be a long night for everybody,’ Malone wrote on X.
A man named James Michaels wrote posted at 7:57pm ET that his plane was supposed to take off five hours ago from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
‘No other United Airlines planes are leaving the tarmac. This is crazy,’ he said.
Another person posted that his first experience with United was ‘a bust.’
As of that person’s 7:33pm ET post, he said he was still on the tarmac at Washington Dulles International Airport.
United last had to issue a nationwide ground stop for its mainline flights on July 24, when the fire alarm sounded at its Chicago operations center.
‘A fire alarm sounded at our operations center, which caused employees to move to our nearby backup facility and resulted in a brief nationwide ground stop of United aircraft,’ the airline said in a statement.
‘Employees have returned to our primary operations center, and the ground stop has been lifted,’ the company added.
