FAA lifts grounding order; Delays, cancellations continue

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Planes are flying again following a nationwide FAA computer outage Wednesday morning, but there are still delays in Burlington and across the country.

Erika Putman and her family were among the travelers notified Wednesday morning that their travel plans to Austin, Texas, was delayed. Instead, the Essex family spent the day waiting to get on a plane, annoyed the FAA’s air mission system threw off their schedule.

“It’s okay. I think it’s going to work with when she falls asleep. For the delay -- so just trying to make things comfortable for her is what matters,” Putman said. “A little frustrated but, we are really grateful for all the staff -- the front house staff mostly -- because they have had a long day. The woman that was helping us said she’s been here since 2 a.m., so they have really been working the problem.”

The FAA ordered all departing flights grounded early Wednesday morning, but lifted that order just before 9 a.m. Eastern after several hours. However, delays and cancellations continue to snowball. More than 3,700 flights were delayed, and more than 640 were canceled.

“Scheduled to fly to DC from Burlington around 12 o’clock. I’ve been getting email updates about every 15 minutes from American Air Lines saying your flight is delayed, your flight is delayed, your flight is delayed. I finally left the house and decided I better wait at the airport instead of at home,” said Amanta Sardonis of Montpelier.

And for those who said their fights were canceled, they just had to try to find another. “They said it was delayed at first. Then they said it was canceled. We hung out for a while, spoke to the staff here and they were able to get us another flight, but it’s not leaving until seven, I think, tonight,” said Shaun Trombley of Plattsburgh.

“Technically, we are supposed to be flying out at 1 p.m. -- half of our group and the other half. Well, the other two people are not due to fly out until tomorrow. So, now we are trying to figure out that mess,” said Bobby Jo Magnan of Fairfax.

The White House said there was no evidence that a cyberattack triggered the outage. The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating.

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