US Customs IT outage sparks long lines at airports
Friday, 03 Jan, 2017
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During 2016, airlines had been roundly criticized for computer outages causing passenger delays, but the latest customer ire is being directly at the government.
Travelers returning home from New Year’s holidays were stuck in long lines at ports of entry after a US Customs and Border Protection ‘technology disruption.’
Airports including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston and Atlanta were temporarily impacted, officials said.
It gave no specific details behind the glitch.
The outage lasted for more than two hours late Monday.
CBP officials said there was no impact on national security and doesn’t believe the system had been hacked.
"During the technology disruption, CBP had access to national security-related databases and all travelers were screened according to security standards. At this time, there is no indication the service disruption was malicious in nature," CBP said in a statement.
"It’s like pandemonium in there. It was a nightmare. I’ve never seen it so crowded," one woman who waited two hours to be processed at New York JFK told CBS New York.
That view was echoed in countless tweets.
Kristin Klingshirn tweeted while still on a plane after arriving at Atlanta: "Update from pilot….because customs computers are down…we are the 20th plane in line for a gate."
Melinda Henrickson tweeted at Miami Airport: "Lady next to me is having a breakdown and there is a physical fight going on around the corner."
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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