U.S.-bound flights from YVR affected by global Microsoft outage

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is urging would-be travellers to check their flight status Friday as a global Microsoft outage is affecting U.S.-bound flights. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!

In a statement to CityNews, YVR said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) is “currently experiencing issues with its technology systems. This has affected some U.S.-bound flights from YVR.”

YVR explained the USCBP is “actively working on a solution.” However, long line-ups at check-in counters could be seen Friday morning.

Just after 6:30 a.m., hundreds of people could be seen waiting to enter the customs area as back-ups at CBP delayed screening.

U.S.-based carriers, such as United Airlines and American Airlines are seeing the majority of cancellations and delays, with local airlines operating as usual.

An Air Canada representative told CityNews the airline is not expecting any delays or cancellations due to the tech outage.

YVR is asking all travellers with flight itineraries to the U.S. to “check their flight status with their airline before coming to the airport.”

In a further statement, YVR said its operations are “otherwise not affected.”

Meanwhile, NAV CANADA says the global tech outage has not affected its systems.

“We are working closely with our industry partners to understand how we can best support their operations and passengers,” the agency said online. “Passengers should check with their airlines for their flight status.”

Canadian airline WestJet took to social media Friday to confirm its systems have not been directly affected by the CrowdStrike disruptions.

“At this time, there has been no direct impact to WestJet systems or operations and any flight cancellations across our network are unrelated to the outage,” it said.

However, one Vancouver-based traveller on their way to Las Vegas from YVR told CityNews just after 10 a.m. that she had been sitting on the tarmac at the airport for about 1.5 hours.

“I saw [the outage] before we left this morning but chose to ignore it and think positive,” she said. “I think we made the right decision to leave extra early cause customs was just starting to back up as we went through.”

“It took about 25 minutes, but it was ‘paused’ after we went through maybe 20 minutes later,” she said.

By the early afternoon, Microsoft noted that the issue had been mitigated and that all previously impacted Microsoft 365 apps and services had recovered. However, effects from the earlier outage were still being felt throughout the world.

In a statement to CityNews Friday afternoon, the USCBP said it is experiencing processing delays due to the global tech outage.

“While ensuring national and homeland security, we are working to mitigate impacts to our operations and are proactively working with our stakeholders to minimize the impact to international trade and travel,” CBP’s Steven Bansbach said.

“During this time, travelers at air and land ports of entry may experience longer than normal wait times. All CBP applications, including Automated Commercial Environment, CBP One, Simplified Arrival, and the Global Entry Mobile App, are operational. We will continue our work to restore our systems to full capacity and provide updates as they become available.“

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