United Airlines ground stop lifted after brief tech issue

Published on Sep 24, 2025, 2:28 pm CDT

4 min read

United Airlines requested an FAA ground stop for departures across the United States and Canada shortly before midnight Central Time on September 23 due to a brief connectivity issue. The airline said normal operations resumed within about an hour, and the FAA canceled the hold. This is United's second technology related stop in two months, following a longer disruption in August. United has not disclosed a root cause for the latest event.

Key Points

Why it matters: Even short tech outages can misalign aircraft and crews, creating next day delays.
Travel impact: Departures paused for roughly 30 to 60 minutes, then resumed.
What's next: Watch for scattered residual delays during morning and afternoon banks.
FAA confirmed the stop was lifted, details about the fault remain limited.
August's separate outage produced wider delays at major hubs.

Snapshot

United acknowledged a connectivity problem just before midnight Central Time on September 23, prompting a temporary ground stop while systems were stabilized. The FAA lifted the stop within about an hour, and United said operations were back to normal. Early indications point to minimal cancellations and a modest number of delays compared with the August 6 incident. Travelers connecting through Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Denver International Airport (DEN), George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) may still see timing adjustments as aircraft and crews re-position. For broader constraints and route programs, see our FAA Daily Air Traffic Report.

Background

On August 6, United experienced a significant technology disruption that led the FAA to hold departures at several major airports. United later characterized that disruption as a controllable delay and said eligible customers would receive accommodations. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the August event was specific to United's operations, and unrelated to the broader air traffic control system. Operationally, airline networks are tightly banked around hub waves, so a pause can propagate for hours as aircraft miss scheduled turns and crews time out. The September 23 incident appears shorter in duration, which generally reduces the risk of daylong knock-ons but can still cause morning misconnects.

Latest Developments

United Airlines resumes departures after late-night connectivity problem

United's brief outage triggered an FAA ground stop that applied to its departures across the United States and Canada. Reports overnight show the hold began shortly before midnight Central Time on September 23 and was canceled within about an hour as systems recovered. Unlike August's multi-hour disruption, the latest event produced fewer downstream impacts. Even so, travelers on tightly timed connections through O'Hare, Denver, Houston Intercontinental, Newark Liberty, and San Francisco should budget extra time, monitor the United app for gate changes, and avoid rebooking away from protected itineraries unless a significant delay is posted.

Analysis

Two incidents in two months will focus attention on the resilience and redundancy of United's operational technology stack. Modern flight release, weight and balance, crew scheduling, and dispatch all rely on interconnected legacy and cloud systems. A brief connectivity failure can freeze flight releases, stall pushbacks, and accumulate out of service crews, quickly degrading on time performance. United's rapid recovery on September 23 suggests the issue was isolated and recoverable without extended vendor escalation. Still, repeat disruptions increase regulatory and investor scrutiny, and they pressure carriers to accelerate failover testing, dependency mapping, and tabletop drills. For travelers, the practical playbook remains constant, arrive earlier than usual, keep alerts active in the United app, and prioritize longer connections during recovery windows. Corporate travel managers should watch for any formal after-action report from United, since policy changes around self-rebooking, hotel coverage, and ticket flexibility often follow back to back incidents.

Final Thoughts

The pause was short, but it highlights how tightly coupled airline operations can be. If you are flying United today, allow extra buffer, stay close to your gate during recovery, and use the app to track gate or crew updates. We will update this page if United issues a fuller explanation or remediation plan tied to the September 23 United Airlines ground stop.