Another round of technical troubles hobbles United
United Airlines grounded planes nationwide for nearly two hours Wednesday after a faulty computer network router disrupted its passenger reservations system.
It was the second time in five weeks that United had to ground flights because of computer issues.
Spokeswoman Jennifer Dohm said a router problem reduced “network connectivity” for several software applications.
“We fixed the router issue, which is enabling us to restore normal functions,” she said around midday.
The Federal Aviation Administration lifted a ground-stop order after nearly two hours, allowing United planes to fly again Wednesday morning. But delays continued while the airline fought to regain control of its schedule. More than 1,150 flights had been delayed and about 60 canceled by late afternoon.
Ryan Ver Berkmoes, a travel writer from Long Island City, N.Y., said he and his fiancee, Alexis Averbuck, a painter, could not get their boarding passes online until 3 p.m. for a flight to San Francisco on Thursday morning to plan their wedding.
Berkmoes, who flies enough to be in United’s highest frequent-flier category, complained that “snafus happen all the time” with United, which merged with Houstonbased Continental Airlines in 2010 to form United Continental Holdings, based in Chicago.
“Unfortunately for the places I fly, they are my one real option, and I’m not sure that competition in the oligarchy is that much better,” he said.
The United router mishap also came just a week after the Justice Department disclosed that United had been part of an investigation of possible collusion among the airlines to limit seating and prop up ticket prices.
After a series of mergers, roughly 80 percent of U.S. air traffic is concentrated among four carriers: American Airlines, United, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines.
George Hoffer, a transportation economist at the University of Richmond, said the disruptions caused by the router problem were “a perfect example of where the mega-mergers added redundancy to the individual carrier, but really lessened redundancy for the airline system.”
“The concentration, as predicted, makes a greater percentage of the system at risk if a glitch occurs.”
Last month, about 150 United flights were grounded because pilots could not gain access to their digital flight plans.