Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14
Trend:
Thousands of passengers were delayed worldwide after a computer glitch temporarily halted departures at United Airlines, the latest in a series of outages to affect rival companies in the industry, Reuters reported.
"Earlier tonight we experienced an issue with our weight reporting system, which caused system wide flight delays," the airline said in a statement on its Twitter feed late on Thursday in the United States.
"We have resolved the issue and are working to get customers to their destinations as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Passengers said they had been forced to wait onboard planes or inside terminals as flights were delayed for several hours.
The airline said the problem had been resolved as of 3 a.m. eastern time (0700 GMT) on Friday.
It is the third computer glitch to hit United's owner United Continental Holdings in recent months and the latest in a series of problems that have tested the reliance on technology of some of the world's largest carriers.