Business

United Airlines Suffers 2nd Major Grounding in 2 Months

Published

9 years ago

July 9, 2015

In this Tuesday, July 22, 2014, file photo, United Airlines jets are parked on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport, in Newark, N.J. All United Continental flights in the U.S. were grounded Wednesday morning, July 8, 2015, due to computer problems. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

DAVID KOENIG, AP Airlines Writers
SCOTT MAYEROWITZ, AP Airlines Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of United Airlines flights were delayed Wednesday after the airline experienced computer problems for the second time in just over a month.

A White House spokesman said President Barack Obama was briefed on the glitch and that it appeared unrelated to an outage hours later at the New York Stock Exchange.

“There is no indication at this point either that there is malicious activity involved,” said the spokesman, Josh Earnest.

A United spokeswoman said that the glitch was caused by an internal technology issue and not an outside threat or hacker.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Dohm said that a router problem reduced “network connectivity” for several software applications. “We fixed the router issue, which is enabling us to restore normal functions,” she said around midday.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted a ground-stop order after nearly two hours, allowing United planes to fly again Wednesday morning. But delays continued while the airline fought to regain control of its schedule.

United, the nation’s second-biggest airline, said more than 1,150 flights had been delayed and about 60 canceled by late afternoon.

United has had three chief information officers since 2011, with the current CIO joining last September. It has suffered several technology lapses in that time, some leading to mass delays and cancellations.

The airline briefly halted all takeoffs in the U.S. on June 2 because of a problem in its flight-dispatching system. United said then that about 150 flights were affected.

United also struggled through a series of computer outages in 2012 after switching to the passenger-information system of Continental Airlines after that carrier merged with United. Those outages caused hundreds of flights to be delayed. High-paying business travelers were outraged; United CEO Jeff Smisek apologized for failing to provide good customer service.

After a 2010 merger, United elected to combine many computer systems and frequent-flier programs all at once. Executives believed that any disruptions would thus be short-lived. By contrast, Delta and Northwest integrated their systems in stages after a 2008 merger, and American Airlines is taking Delta’s same go-slow approach now as it absorbs US Airways.

Other airlines, however, have also been hit by computer problems. In April, more than 50 American flights were delayed when a software glitch prevented pilots from seeing some airport maps on their tablet computers.

After Wednesday’s problems, United apologized to customers and said they could change travel plans without being charged the usual $200 reservation-change fee. In some cases, the airline said it would also waive any difference in fare for the rescheduled trip.

At Los Angeles International Airport, Meni Tsirbas arrived an hour early for his morning flight to Newark, New Jersey. There was already a mob around the ticketing counter, and plenty of confusion.

“Everything was done by hand,” said Tsirbas, an animation director. “We checked one (bag) and it was done ’70s style.”

Betsy Fischer Martin’s flight to Denver sat on the ground at Dulles Airport near Washington as the captain gave increasingly dismal updates on the delay.

At one point, “The captain said, “Anyone who wants to look at the cockpit and flight deck is welcome — we have nothing better to do,'” said Fischer Martin, a journalist. “He made a bad situation a little better.”

Gary Leff, co-founder of frequent-flier website MilePoint, said the breakdown “underscores the sense that something is very wrong at United.”

“How could a router bring down one of the world’s largest airlines?” asked Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, who said it appeared that United lacked enough redundancy in its technology systems. Still, he doubted that United would lose many business-travel customers because technology hiccups could happen to any carrier.

Shares of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc. fell $1.49, or 2.7 percent, to close at $52.82.

___

Koenig reported from Dallas. Michelle Chapman in New York, Alina Hartounian in Los Angeles, Matt Small in San Francisco and Joan Lowy in Washington contributed to this report.

Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott ; Koenig athttp://twitter.com/airlinewriter

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

4 hours ago

April 19, 2024

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V.P. Kamala Harris: Americans With Criminal Records Will Soon Be Eligible for SBA Loans

Speaking in Las Vegas on Jan. 27, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a forthcoming federal rule that will extend access to Small Business Administration (SBA) loans to Americans who have been convicted of felonies but have served their time. Small business owners typically apply for the SBA loans to start or sustain their businesses.

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

On her daylong trip, Harris was joined by Horford, SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman, Interim Under Secretary of Commerce for Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Eric Morrissette, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev).

By California Black Media

Small business owners typically apply for the SBA loans to start or sustain their businesses.

Harris thanked U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV-04), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, for the work he has done in Washington to support small businesses and to invest in people.

“He and I spent some time this afternoon with business leaders and small business leaders here in Nevada. The work you have been doing to invest in community and to invest in the ambition and natural capacity of communities has been exceptional,” Harris said, speaking to a crowd of a few hundred people at the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Hall in East Las Vegas.

“Formerly incarcerated individuals face significant barriers to economic opportunity once they leave prison and return to the community, with an unemployment rate among the population of more than 27%,” the White House press release continued. “Today’s announcement builds on the Vice President’s work to increase access to capital. Research finds that entrepreneurship can reduce recidivism for unemployed formerly incarcerated individuals by as much as 30%.”

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G.O.P. Lawmakers: Repeal AB 5 and Resist Nationalization of “Disastrous” Contractor Law

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

File Photo: Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City)

By California Black Media

Republican lawmakers gathered outside of the Employee Development Department in Sacramento on Jan. 23 to call for the repeal of AB5, the five-year old California law that reclassified gig workers and other independent contractors as W-2 employees under the state’s labor code.
Organizers said they also held the rally to push back against current efforts in Washington to pass a similar federal law.

“We are here to talk about this very important issue – a battle we have fought for many years – to stop this disastrous AB 5 policy,” said Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City).
Now, that threat has gone national as we have seen this new rule being pushed out of the Biden administration,” Gallagher continued.

On Jan. 10, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a new rule providing guidance on “on how to analyze who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).”
“This final rule rescinds the Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act rule (2021 IC Rule), that was published on January 7, 2021, and replaces it with an analysis for determining employee or independent contractor status that is more consistent with the FLSA as interpreted by longstanding judicial precedent,” a Department of Labor statement reads.
U.S. Congressmember Kevin Kiley (R-CA-3), who is a former California Assemblymember, spoke at the rally.

“We are here today to warn against the nationalization of one of the worst laws that has ever been passed in California, which has devastated the livelihoods of folks in over 600 professions,” said Kiley, adding that the law has led to a 10.5% decline in self-employment in California.

Kiley blamed U.S Acting Secretary of Labor, July Su, who was the former secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, for leading the effort to redefine “contract workers” at the federal level.
Kiley said two separate lawsuits have been filed against Su’s Rule – its constitutionality and the way it was enacted, respectively. He said he is also working on legislation in Congress that puts restrictions on the creation and implementation of executive branch decisions like Su’s.
Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) announced that she plans to introduce legislation to repeal AB 5 during the current legislative session.

“So many working moms like myself, who are also raising kids, managing households, were devastated by the effects of AB 5 because they lost access to hundreds of flexible professions,” Sanchez continued. “I’ve been told by many of these women that they have lost their livelihoods as bookkeepers, artists, family caregivers, designers, and hairstylists because of this destructive law.”