Flights canceled, delayed at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports due to global Microsoft outage. Subways and trains still running.

NEW YORK — A global Microsoft outage caused by a CrowdStrike issue overnight impacted computer systems worldwide, grounding hundreds of flights at New York City airports. 

City and state officials stress this was not a cyberattack, but a CrowdStrike update that knocked systems offline. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says the city recently conducted a drill on how to respond to IT outages and cyberattacks. 

“The blueprint was already in place, all we had to do was execute on it,” Adams said.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says buses, subways, LIRR and Metro-North trains are running normally for the morning commute. The agency says some customer service systems, like arrival times and other trackers, may be impacted. 

NJ Transit says its service is not impacted, but some ticket vending machines are down. Amtrak says the outage is also impacting its credit card payments, but Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal are still working.

The New York State DMV says it’s unable to process transactions, and New Jersey’s MVC is experiencing issues.

New York City Health + Hospitals and other hospitals across the city remain fully functional.

“Overwhelmingly, all of the systems are running just as they should. Patients should keep their appointments. They might experience delays, because some of the individual work stations have to be brought up manually… so people should have a little bit extra patience with their doctor or nurse, but people should not neglect their care,” NYC Health + Hospitals CEO Mitch Katz said.

Katz said every hospital is required to have a backup plan and practice what to do if computer systems go down. 

“You deal with life and death and have to make instant decisions about prescribing medicine [or] running a test, so every hospital has to be able to run without computers,” he said. “Some of us are even old enough to remember when everything ran without computers.”

The city’s Summer Rising program continues as normal, but parents may not be able to track the buses as they would typically. 

Critical NYC infrastructure up and running

“We are monitoring the global technical outage involving #Crowdstrike and assessing its full impact it may have on city operations. Right now, critical infrastructure and emergency operations — including our city’s 911 system — have not been impacted. All relevant city agencies and IT departments will continue to prioritize the situation today and release updates,” the mayor’s office posted on social media. 

The city’s Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser told CBS New York “all of our critical systems are up and operational.”

“The good news is that for New York City, our critical assets – traffic management, 911, water, and the things that are most critical to the operation – those things remain up and running without incident, and they’re not impacted at this moment,” he said. 

The FDNY also shared an update, saying, “FDNY IT and Communication teams implemented our redundancy procedures upon notification of the crowdstrike outage. Dispatchers and Field Units communicated over the department radios limiting any operational impact. Updates to follow as we work through this event.”

Some banks, supermarkets and news stations are also affected. The New York Stock Exchange, however, says “markets are fully operational” and it expects to open as normal. 

“I am closely monitoring impacts to critical infrastructure in New York state due to a worldwide software issue,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “Our top priority is to ensure 911 systems are fully operational. A fix for the underlying issues has been identified and we are working with agencies on a resolution.” 

“I have been briefed on the global technology outage involving CrowdStrike software and Microsoft operating systems, which has grounded flights, disrupted banks, and slowed the work of businesses and critical services including 911 call centers,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said. “We activated our State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) as of 3:00 a.m. in response to these disruptions and have provided guidance to relevant executive branch agencies on how to address the situation. We are also engaging county and local governments, 911 call centers, and utilities to assess the impact and offer our assistance.”

Delta, United & American flights grounded overnight

Several major airlines, including American, United and Delta, requested ground stops from the FAA around 2:30 a.m., citing the communication issues. 

As of 9:30 a.m., John F. Kennedy International Airport reported 174 delays and 64 cancellations, LaGuardia Airport reported 176 delays and 113 cancellations, and Newark Liberty International Airport reported 220 delays and 58 cancellations. 

American and United started resuming some flights around 5 a.m., but Delta remained grounded until about 8 a.m.

“Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5:00 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” American said in a statement.

“A third-party outage is impacting computer systems, including at United and many other organizations worldwide. As we work to fully restore these systems, some flights are resuming. Many customers traveling today may experience delays,” United said.

“Delta has resumed some flight departures after a vendor technology issue impacted several airlines and businesses around the world. That issue necessitated a pause in Delta’s global flight schedule this morning while it was addressed,” said Delta. 

The airlines are offering travel waivers so people can rebook their flights for another time. 

“All the computers died”

CBS New York’s Christina Fan spoke with travelers in Newark about the issues overnight. Many said they learned the news as they arrived at the airport and saw the lines. 

“We tried to check in like three hours before we got here, like at 2 a.m., and it wasn’t working. So once we got here, there’s literately a line this long,” one woman said, adding it took about three hours to get to the ticket counter. 

“Terrible, people spend thousands of dollars to go on vacation or go home or go visit family, and this is the situation that we got put through – between these airline companies that make millions of dollars,” said one man.

“I’m going to my family reunion, so I’m anxious, I’m scared a little bit. But I’ll be alright, I’m just going to stay here until the line clears,” another woman added.

Some passengers said airlines were even hand writing boarding passes.

“I just flew from Panama, and when I boarded in the David airport to Panama City, all the computers died. And we just thought it was local. So they started hand writing all of the boarding passes,” said one woman. “So we were very delayed getting out of there, in Panama. Now, they just told me at the United desk that they’re completely down, it’s worldwide.”

Check your flight status

Travelers should check with their carriers for individual flight information. 

Use the following links for local airports:

Stick with CBS New York for the latest updates on this developing story. 

Natalie Duddridge

Natalie Duddridge is an award-winning journalist. She joined CBS2 News as a reporter in February 2018.