‘It is a hot mess’ at LAX as global tech outage brings long lines

Dozens of frustrated, tired and angry travelers waited in line at the Spirit Airlines ticketing desk at LAX early Friday desperately seeking help, underscoring the myriad of disruptions caused by a tech outage that upended air travel around the globe.

“They’re not going to do much,” an airline worker warned the would-be passengers shortly before 8 am. He asked if anyone’s flight from Thursday had been canceled and advised that the “best bet is to get your refund online.”

Among those who spoke to the worker for guidance was Eli Osei, 20. He had a flight scheduled for 11:49 p.m. Thursday. The flight first got pushed back to 12:10 am, then to 12:57 am.

“Then the communication stopped and then it got canceled,” Osei said, as he stood with two suitcases piled on his luggage cart.

Osei said he put those two suitcases together and tried to sleep on them, but only got some shut-eye for about 40 minutes before an airline employee announcement woke him. There was nothing that could be done.

“Which makes a lot of sense,” Osei said, noting that it was a software issue. “It seems like no one really has any answers. You can’t blame anyone.”

No blame inside the airport, perhaps. But there was already much finger-pointing.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or a cyberattack. The company said the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.

Osei had been in L.A. for an internship and was unable to go back to the Airbnb where he was staying. A new guest had already taken his place.

“I don’t really know what I’m going to do,” he said. “I imagine I could be here for a while.”

There were early signs things may not be right when LAX’s ticket scanner experienced issues, said Jason Schwarze, 42. Then he and his family spent an hour sitting on the runway Thursday night waiting to depart for Australia before their flight was ultimately canceled.

“They unloaded everyone, said here’s your bag, good luck,” he said.

He, his wife and 17-year-old son slept on the floor of the airport’s check-in area because all the nearby hotels they visited were booked.

Iyanah Cheatham, 21, planned to head home to Columbus for her dad’s 60th birthday on Friday. But her early morning flight was canceled, with no update on when she could rebook.

“I won’t be able to make it,” she said. “I’m really bummed to be honest.”

She thought about booking a new flight but last-minute tickets cost upwards of $700, she said. Instead, she headed home to Burbank.

Many from out of town had nowhere else to go.

Elissa Moore, 29, and her family had been visiting L.A. for a week before they headed to the airport Thursday night to catch a flight to Nashville, close to where they live. The group of six — including two kids — got to LAX around 7:30 p.m. for a 10:08 p.m. Spirit flight. They were told they’d be manually boarded and some people got on the plane. Then, she said, those passengers were deboarded and the flight was canceled.

Moore said they were told to go to the ticket desk for more information. But when they got to the departures desk, they were told that Spirit employees had no information.

California

Global tech outage strands passengers at LAX, other airports; hospitals also hit

The software issue was part of an update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which protects computers for many of the biggest companies in the world.

The family went to get their checked bag, but couldn’t because the computer-driven system was down.

“We can’t even get our checked bag to get a hotel room to leave,” she said.

The family slept on the floor overnight, along with everyone else who had their flights canceled. Some people were waiting in line to speak with agents and slept in their place, Moore said.

Some slept on a conveyor belt until an airport employee came around about 3 or 4 a.m. yelling at everyone to get up, she said.

“It was terrible. It is terrible,” she corrected herself. “Cause we’re still going through it.”

Moore, who on Friday morning sat barefoot and cross-legged near a growing line for the Spirit departures ticket desk, said everyone had been pushed out there and “there’s no food.” She said she was worried about her 2-year-old and 10-month-old daughters, who were asleep in a stroller in their pink pajamas.

“What am I going to feed my babies for breakfast,” she said. “I planned on being home in my bed by now ... my biggest concern is getting them something to eat.”

She has formula for her baby, she said, but she has that for the allotted time of getting home today “not two days later.” They went downstairs and she said there’s one shop downstairs and they can’t get through security to access food places, because they don’t have a ticket at this point.

“It is a hot mess,” she said. “Just to see people continuing coming in and they’re not concerned with the people who have been here all night. Not an ounce of concern. They’re trying to get people boarded to keep that money.”

Her best friend works in a bank, so Moore said she knows this goes beyond the impact on the airline.

“Airlines should be equipped for this,” she said. “Why don’t we have travel cots for people? Why don’t we have formula? What about kid food? I get it’s a business, but if you’re going to have things like this happen, you need to be equipped for that.

“They’re saying if you missed your flight — which is what they’re calling it instead of saying your flight got canceled — that there’s nothing we can do for you and call the 1-800 number,” Moore said. “And then the 1-800 number tells us they don’t have no information, that their system is down.

“We’re literally just sitting here. Our flight was canceled, we’re not able to rebook, we can’t even talk to them about a refund. They said because their system is down they can’t talk about a refund but ‘make sure you call within 24 hours to get your refund.’”

Gabrielle Watson, an L.A.-based DJ and music producer, arrived at LAX on Thursday night to catch her 11:59 p.m. United Airlines flight to Chicago with a connection in Columbus, Ohio, so she could play a daytime Friday set at Secret Dreams Festival. The artist knew there were problems immediately when she got to her gate. Still, her flight boarded and she remained on the plane for hours as delays ravaged the airport. The captain said there were technical issues.

After about three hours on board, Watson finally deplaned and went home, realizing she was not going to make her connecting flight in Chicago. Her flight was canceled about five hours after its scheduled departure time.

When she got back into the airport, the scene was disastrous.

“It was chaos. There were a lot of upset people,” she said. “They were spread around on floors everywhere trying to be comfortable waiting for information. It was very stressful and a bit dark.”

Now Watson is worried she’ll lose the pay she was supposed to get for her set.

“I’m pretty upset,” she said. “I don’t usually get to play daytime sets and I had prepared a really fun... set. I’m pretty sad to miss it.”

As people tried to adjust their plans Friday morning, a line of customers snaked outside of the United check-in area to outside the terminal with workers letting them in by groups.

“Just these 17!” an airline worker shouted, telling others to wait their turn.

Downstairs at arrivals, luggage was stacked up at the baggage claim area. Weary travelers were slumped in chairs and the information kiosks were flooded with people asking questions.

Naval officer Jade Noble, 27, flew in Friday morning to LAX from San Diego for a connecting flight to Honolulu before deploying to Guam. But her connection to Hawaii was canceled and won’t be rescheduled for another five to seven days, she was told, pushing back the start of her first deployment.

“I don’t know how it’s going to be checking in a week or two later,” she said about possibly missing the start date for her orders. A friend is driving up to Los Angeles to bring her back to San Diego while she waits for a new flight.

The only silver lining, she said, is getting extra time with loved ones.

Syeda S., 35, got to LAX at 7 p.m Thursday night for a red-eye to Washington, D.C., with her two young kids. She had packed enough to keep them fed and comfortable for an overnight flight — not for a nearly 15-hour stay at the airport.

At 2 a.m. she said that her kids and others waiting for flights in the terminal were cranky and hungry. An airport employee delivered boxes of food to those waiting since vendors were closed.

By Friday morning, her 3-year-old daughter had developed a fever and her 2-year-old fussed as his sister slept in their mother’s arms. Syeda said she was frustrated that the airport wasn’t more prepared for this sort of possibility.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” she said.