United Airlines Grounded by Mysterious Tech Glitch—What This Means for Your Travel Plans and How to Stay Ahead
Ever wonder what it’s like when the skies above suddenly go quiet—not due to calm weather, but because an airline’s tech decides to take an unexpected nap? That was the scene on a recent Wednesday evening when United Airlines hit the brakes on its nationwide operations with a ground stop triggered by a technology hiccup. Picture this: passengers twiddling their thumbs, planes grounded, and a scramble to untangle the digital snafu affecting flight times and weight data critical to taking off safely. It’s a modern-day travel tangle that had folks questioning—how robust is our reliance on tech when it comes to getting airborne? As the dust settles and United works through residual delays, this episode serves as a reminder that even giants of the sky aren’t immune to the occasional glitch in their digital wings. Curious to dive deeper into what went down and what it means for travelers? LEARN MORE
Aug. 07, 2025
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2 min read
United Airlines warns of delays after ground stop for ‘technology issue’
United Airlines passengers faced the prospect of delays Wednesday evening after the carrier requested a nationwide ground stop because of an IT glitch.
The ground stop was requested around 6:15 p.m. EST and lasted about two hours. United issued a statement just after 10 p.m. EST saying that the issue had been resolved.
United was treating the issue as a controllable delay, meaning it would would cover certain delay-related expenses for travelers. The “technology issue” affected a system that feeds information on flight times and weight and balance into the company’s other flight programs.
“We are working with customers to get them to their destinations after a technology disruption on Wednesday evening. The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and, while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations,” the airline said.
As of 10:30 p.m. EST, flight-tracking service FlightAware showed that a third of United’s mainline flights were running behind schedule, though that figure included flights from before the ground stop went into effect. Still, the number of both delays and cancellations for United ticked up following the ground stop.
More were possible as United worked to get crews and planes back on schedule, but the lifting of the ground stop suggested the worst was over.
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A “ground stop” holds flights on the ground so that arrivals don’t back up at an airport experiencing an issue like poor weather or another event that restricts arriving flights. In some cases, an airline will request a ground stop if it’s experiencing an operational issue, which appears to have been the case for United this evening.
Flight delay resources
Featured image by SEAN CUDAHY/THE POINTS GUY
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