On one of the busiest travel days of the year, many airplane passengers were trapped in hours-long lines because of a nationwide customs computer outage.
Major airports in New York, Houston, Atlanta and Miami were affected by these delays on the US public holiday. There were also long lines in Boston’s Logan Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.
The traveling snafu caused delays ranging from 30 minutes to two hours and hundreds of people got off flights and into motionless queues.
According to CNN, 30 flights into Miami International Airport were delayed beginning at 6.00pm.
John F Kennedy International Airport had delays up to 90 minutes long. The outage began around 5.00pm and lasted until 9.00pm ET. Some passengers had to be processed by hand because of the glitch.
During the outage, passengers were able to be processed because customs had access to national security-related databases. There is no evidence that the computer malfunction signified hacking.
The agency said in a statement: ‘US Customs and Border Protection is experiencing a temporary outage with its processing systems at various air ports of entry and taking immediate action to address the technology disruption.’
‘CBP took immediate action to address the issue and CBP officers continued to process international travelers using alternative procedures at airports experiencing the disruption.’
‘Travelers at some ports of entry experienced longer than usual wait times as CBP officers processed travelers as quickly as possible while maintaining the highest levels of security.’
‘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.’
Michelle Sencibaugh, a teacher from St Louis told USA Today: ‘People started to pass out, people were screaming, shoving each other with luggage. People were scared, absolutely.’
In scorching hot Miami, which had a high temperature of 84 degrees Farenheight today, the waiting was too much to handle.
One passenger vomited while waiting in line to the horror of the hundreds of people in the queue. There are also reports that two people passed out while waiting.
SOURCE: Mail Online
Kaileen Gaul
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