It was bad enough that a global technology outage disrupted the travel plans of thousands of travelers coursing through South Florida airports on Friday as they embarked on trips for the weekend.
But local Social Security Administration offices nationwide were closed for the day, and an incalculable number of banks including TD Bank and Chase, medical providers such as South Florida’s UHealth and other services in the public and private sectors were jarred around the United States. Across the tri-county area, local government officials closely monitored communications, law enforcement, transit and other services that taxpayers expect to be in place each day.
In an online alert, Social Security, which dispenses benefits to millions of retirees and the disabled said its offices nationwide were shut by the technology glitch.
“Due to widespread IT outages due to the global Microsoft and Crowdstrike issues, local Social Security offices are closed to the public today,” the agency said in a note atop its website. It said its phone line — 800-772-1213 — remains open as are most online services at ssa.gov.
The problems were caused by a faulty software update that grounded flights and disrupted some banking and media outlets, hospitals and small businesses. The trouble were traced to an update issued by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and affected computers running Microsoft Windows. CrowdStrike said the incident was not caused by any hacking or cyberattack. The company, which apologized and said it was fixing the problem, supplies cybersecurity software to Fortune 500 companies, including major banks, healthcare and energy companies.
Hamstrung airlines
Delays and flight cancellations upset airline operations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, Palm Beach International and Miami International airports, according to website notifications and officials. Airlines scrambled overnight to curb the ripple effects of delays for passengers who spent hours waiting in airport terminals instead aboard airplanes scheduled to take them to nationwide destinations.
“An early morning systemwide technology issue is impacting some airline and passenger processing operations at U.S. airports, including #FLL,” the Broward County airport declared on its X social media account. “Flight delays are expected, so travelers should check with their airline for updated flight status before coming to #FLL.”
A county spokeswoman said the airport’s own operations were normal including parking and concessions. But airline flight delays and cancellations were expected to continue throughout the day.
Overnight, more than 1,000 flights were canceled in the U.S. after American Airlines, United and Delta asked the FAA for a worldwide ground stop on all flights, according to an FAA alert. Delta and American had the largest numbers of cancellations, while Southwest Airlines said it was not affected. American, which is the busiest carrier at Miami International Airport, said it had worked through the problem and had restored its flight schedules to normal by 2 a.m. Friday.
As of 4 p.m., the flight delay and cancellation picture looked this way at South Florida’s three international airports, according to the tracking service FlightAware:
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood: 73 cancellations / 179 delays
- Palm Beach: 20 cancellations / 56 delays
- Miami: 52 cancellations / 341 delays
Nationwide, nearly 28,000 flights had been delayed and more than 3,000 cancelled by midday, according to FlightAware data.
South Florida-based discounter Spirit Airlines and other airlines messaged their customers outlining the terms of compensation offers on their websites.
“A third-party vendor is experiencing a global technical outage that is affecting Spirit’s reservations system and Airport systems, impacting flight operations,” the airline told its customers “If your flight is cancelled, you have the option to receive a refund, reservation credit, or to be rebooked on another Spirit flight. If your flight has been delayed by more than 2 hours, you can be rebooked on another Spirit flight, or receive a reservation credit or a refund if you do not wish to fly.”
The airline advised customers seeking refunds to call 833-417-5700 or visit spirit.com/help. But the carrier said its airport and guest care teams were unable to immediately assist with re-bookings.
Spirit said that since the cyber-driven problem was beyond its control, “impacted Guests will not be eligible for hotel accommodations, ground transportation, meal vouchers, air transportation on other carriers or sleeping arrangements at the airport.”
But later in the day, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said in a social media announcement that airlines are responsible for assisting passengers whose trips are disrupted. His message was essentially the opposite of the position taken by Spirit, Delta and United.
“As airlines recover from today’s global tech outage, our department has reminded airlines of their responsibilities to passengers,” he said. “As with any mechanical or technical failure, airlines are required in this case to take care of passengers experiencing long delays or cancellations.”
Air delivery firms UPS and FedEx found themselves advising customers of possible delays.
“A third-party software outage is impacting some UPS computer systems,” the company said on its website. “While the UPS network is operating and delivering in all areas, there is a potential for delivery delays. Contingency plans are in place to help ensure that shipments arrive at their final destinations as quickly as possible.”
Regional rail services appeared unaffected, with Brightline, Tri-Rail and Amtrak trains operating normally.
“Brightline is operating as usual,” the high-speed railroad said atop its booking website. “We look forward to welcoming you aboard.”
But on the road, motorists using service plazas on Florida’s Turnpike encountered difficulties with ATM machines.
“Florida’s Turnpike Service Plazas are experiencing a service disruption that has affected onsite ATM’s, and the ability to accept credit card payments,” the Turnpike said on its social media account X. “Services are available for purchase with cash. Gas stations are not affected. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Counties closely monitoring services
County and city governments spent most of the day ensuring that critical emergency and other systems remained online, with only minor issues arising across South Florida.
The City of Miami said it had trouble with its online customer services.
“However, 911 calls for service are NOT affected,” the city said on social media. “Please be rest assured that we are working diligently to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Broward County’s operations were normal “across all emergency communications systems,” including E-911 calls, said Lori Shepard, senior public information officer.
She said it was also business as usual at Port Everglades and its major terminals for cargo and energy. No cruise ships were in port Friday, The county’s bus system also operated without disruption.
Shepard also said operations were “normal across county agencies reporting in thus far, but we will continue monitoring.”
Still. the county’s Office of Emergency Management was contacting all of the county’s 30 cities about potential impacts. “We have yet to receive reports of negative impacts,” she said.
Palm Beach County was in a similar mode — unscathed but on the lookout for anomalies.
“Palm Beach County’s (PBC) internal infrastructure remains unaffected,” .said Lisa De La Rionda, the public affairs director. “PBC’s 9-1-1 has not been impacted. We are monitoring and available for support if necessary.”
In the medical field, the University of Miami said its expansive UHealth system experienced problems.
“The University of Miami and UHealth — University of Miami Health System — are experiencing connectivity issues across various applications, including UChart,” the university said in a statement “The outage did not compromise our data’s security and confidentiality.”
UM said the health network was “operating in downtime protocol, using paper orders to disseminate information” until its systems were restored.
While all of the network’s hospitals and clinics remained open, the university added, “patients should anticipate delays until systems are fully operational.”
Cleveland Clinic Florida said it was impacted but the situation “has gotten better,” according to communications specialist Raquel G. Rivas.
“Due to the global IT outage, some technology used by Cleveland Clinic is currently impacted,” she told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Patient care is not affected, and we are continuing to provide care at all locations.”
A spokeswoman for BrowardHealth said its four hospitals were not affected.
The news media were not immune.
On its website, NBC6 South Florida reported that when its overnight crews arrived at the TV station for work, they found “blue screens of death on most newsroom computers.”
