A worldwide Microsoft outage dramatically impacted a number of services from flights to banks and more for several hours early Friday morning.
Airlines and airports across the United States, Europe, Australia, India and elsewhere were reporting problems, with some flights grounded in Chicago and beyond. Retail outlets, banks, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world were also affected in what appeared to be an unprecedented internet disruption.
Here's a look at the services impacted and where:
What's happening in Chicago?
Flights grounded on major airlines, but some resuming
Across the U.S., the FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded.
In the Chicago area, the outage appeared to be impacting several flights at O'Hare International Airport and Midway Airport.
Delta Airlines reported "all Delta flights are paused as we work through a vendor technology issue."
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American Airlines said it was "aware of a technology issue" that was "impacting multiple carriers."
United Airlines said the outage was "impacting computer systems worldwide."
"While we work to restore those systems, we are holding all aircraft at their departure airports. Flights already airborne are continuing to their destinations," the airline said in a statement.
As of 5:30 a.m., some airlines began to see flights resuming, but residuals delays continued.
Midway Airport warned of longer lines and wait times due to the issues.
Emergency Services
Beyond flights, Illinois State Police reported the department was also experiencing technical issues during the outage, though 911 call services were still functioning.
Transportation
Railways and transit systems were being impacted across the globe.
In Chicago, the Chicago Transit Authority said it has not seen service impacts from the outage, but its Ventra app did see some problems.
"Bus and rail services are still running and were not impacted by the Microsoft outage. Ventra experienced some outage overnight that would have affected customers wanting to add value to via the mobile app and then at the machines as well, but both instances have been resolved and operations are running normally. We will continue to monitor the system for changes," the agency said.
Metra also noted its Ventra app services were experiencing issues. The rail agency also saw delays on some lines due "a communication issue" stemming from the outage.
Medical offices and hospitals
The University of Chicago Medical Center said its computer systems and servers were disconnected due to the outage.
"These connections are being restored as we speak and most critical clinical and operational systems are now back online. We expect restoration to continue over the next several hours," the medical system said in an alert.
Other hospital systems including Rush University Medical Center and Sinai Chicago also reported experiencing some issues, but little impacts for patients.
Illinois, Indiana DMVs
Illinois DMVs were impacted by the outage, with Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias urging people to call before visiting a DMV.
Giannoulias said the outage "my impact operating hours or services (including road tests)."
In Indiana, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles said it too was impacted.
"Currently, we are unable to process transactions," the bureau wrote on X.
State government
Illinois government operations "are currently experiencing disruptions due to a global technology outage affecting CrowdStrike," state officials said.
"This outage has impacted several public-facing online systems, causing interruptions in service. The State is working diligently on restoration and minimizing the impact on the public," a statement read. "All efforts are being made to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible to ensure the continuity of state operations and public services."
What happened?
According to a Microsoft web page tracking the status of its services, "users may be unable to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services." Issues are affecting apps including Microsoft Fabric, Teams, Purview, Defender, SharePoint and OneNote, according to the tracker.
The U.S. tech giant said late on Thursday that customers may experience issues with multiple services due to an outage.
Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability.”
On Friday, Microsoft said a majority of services were recovered, according to CNBC. However, the company said that some customers may still experience issues.
The chief executive of the cybersecurity company at the heart of the worldwide outage says it is working to fix a defect sent out in a Windows update.
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on the social platform X. “The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
Kurtz said there was a defect in a “single content update for Windows hosts.” Mac and Linux hosts were not affected.
The company referred customers to its support portal for updates.
What's happening globally?
Airlines, railways and television stations in the United Kingdom were being disrupted by the computer issues. The budget airline Ryanair, train operators TransPennine Express and Govia Thameslink Railway, as well as broadcaster Sky News are among those affected.
Widespread problems were reported at Australian airports, where lines grew and some passengers were stranded as online check-in services and self-service booths were disabled. Passengers in Melbourne queued for more than an hour to check in.
“We’re currently experiencing disruption across the network due to a global third party IT outage which is out of our control,’’ Ryanair said. “We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time.”
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport said on its website that the outage was having a “major impact on flights” to and from the busy European hub. The outage came on one of the busiest days of the year for the airport, at the start of many people’s summer vacations.
In Germany, Berlin Airport said Friday morning that “due to a technical fault, there will be delays in check-in.” It said that flights were suspended until 10 a.m. (0800GMT), without giving details, German news agency dpa reported.
At Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport, some US-bound flights had posted delays, while others were unaffected.
Australian outages reported on the site included the banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, and the airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra.
News outlets in Australia — including the ABC and Sky News — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels, and reported sudden shutdowns of Windows-based computers. Some news anchors broadcast live online from dark offices, in front of computers showing “blue screens of death.”
Shoppers were unable to pay at some supermarkets and stores due to payment system outages.
The New Zealand banks ASB and Kiwibank said their services were down.
Paris Olympics organizers say some Olympic delegations’ arrivals, as well as the delivery of some uniforms and accreditations, have been delayed because of the outage.
The organizers said in a statement that ticketing and the torch relay have not been affected. “Our teams have been fully mobilized to ensure the continuity of operations at optimum levels,” organizers said.
