Global tech outage: Here's what's being impacted by massive tech outage in Philadelphia, New Jersey

A global technology outage on Friday morning grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off-air in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack — and that a fix was on the way. It added that the problem happened when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.

Philadelphia wasn't impervious to the widespread technology outage. Philadelphia International Airport experienced several delays and cancelations and the Philadelphia Court system was forced to close for the day.

Philadelphia International Airport

Hoards of travelers crowded Philadelphia International Airport on Friday morning, with more than a dozen disruptions reported at the airport, and over 1,200 cancelations nationwide.

"Last night, Frontier had some issues impacting their flights and early this morning they seemed to be back up and running, but then it started hitting other airlines," Heather Redfern, an airport spokesperson, told FOX 29. 

"American, Delta and United were in a ground stop earlier this morning, American went back to service at about 5 a.m., they are resuming their operations just like United but it will take time to get back up and running on a regular schedule."

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Global tech outage slows travel at Philadelphia International Airport

Travelers in Philadelphia and around the world are experiencing widespread delays as part of a Microsoft outage that also disrupted banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday.

Redfern said the outage will cause a "snowball effect" as crews scramble to clear the logjam of flights, which she says could take days to resolve. The airport is urging travelers to keep tabs on flights through their airlines and still encouraging people to come to the airport despite the disruptions. 

United, in a statement posted on X, said it will begin to resume "some" flights, but residual disruptions are expected throughout the day Friday. The airline said it has issued a waiver to make it easier for customers to change their travel plans via their website.

"Definitely check with your airline first, if it doesn't say anything, I would come to the airport," Redfern said. "The lines are long, it might work itself out now that American and United are starting to come back to their operations."

Philadelphia Courts

All First Judicial District Courts and offices in Philadelphia were forced to close Friday due to the outage. According to a statement, all cases that were scheduled for Friday will be rescheduled and will be posted on their website starting Monday. 

Those who were summoned for jury duty have been excused Friday, according to the courts.

Penn Medicine

Penn Medicine said the widespread outage has impacted appointments in some locations. In a statement posted to its website, Penn Medicine said that anyone whose appointment is canceled will receive a text message or phone call with more information. 

They added that all Penn Medicine Hospitals, including the emergency department, are "fully staffed and continuing to care for patients."

Virtua Health

South Jersey's largest health system, Virtua Health, said it's "implemented its backup systems and policies to enable both hospital and outpatient services to continue safely and with minimal interruption."

In a statement, the health network added their records system and patient portal are both functioning "after some brief disruptions overnight." Virtua said that while the technical issues are impacting things like check-in and registration, "essential patient care" is not being affected.