A technical failure at Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the world’s largest cloud computing providers, caused significant disruption to airline websites on Monday, affecting passenger check-in and booking access.
Major carriers, including Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, faced problems as their online systems were partially non-functional for several hours.
The outage began early Monday when AWS reported increased error rates and delays within its US-EAST-1 data centre region, which hosts many critical customer applications. This disruption prevented many users from completing essential tasks such as online check-in or luggage drop-off.
By 5:27 a.m. ET, AWS announced on its status page: “We are seeing significant signs of recovery. Most requests should now be succeeding. We continue to work through a backlog of queued requests. We will continue to provide additional information.”
Although the situation improved, some issues persisted as airlines worked to restore full functionality.
United Airlines acknowledged the problem on social media platform X, confirming “a system glitch affecting our online tools” and assuring customers that system updates were underway, without giving a precise timeline for resolution. Passengers were advised to check back regularly for updates.
Flight tracking data from FlightAware showed minimal delays worldwide during the disruption, indicating airlines managed to continue operations despite the technological challenges.
Passengers shared varied experiences; some found bookings briefly available on airline apps, while many reported being unable to check in or drop off luggage, leading to frustration online.
This incident echoes a major malfunction in July 2024, when a flawed software update at cybersecurity company CrowdStrike caused widespread failures across thousands of Microsoft Windows systems globally. That event severely affected air travel and other sectors, costing Delta more than $500 million due to mass flight cancellations and operational disruptions.
As cloud services become ever more vital to airline technology infrastructures, such outages underline the risks of dependence on single providers for essential digital functions.