'It's very upsetting.' Bridal party stuck at Newark airport after worldwide outage cancels Spirit flight to Los Angeles

Wearing a black and gold “maid of dishonor” sash, Blake Lackman told News 12 all flights on Spirit Airlines to LAX were canceled this morning.

Lanette Espy

Jul 19, 2024, 4:24 PM

Updated 135 days ago

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Imagine a global technology outage affecting one of the biggest days in your life. That’s exactly what happened to one bridal party that was told their flight to Los Angeles was canceled.
Worldwide communication system issues this morning affected airline travel, 911 centers, hospitals, banks, security systems — and even disrupted vacation plans and celebrations.
One traveler from New York told News 12 New Jersey she’s a part of a wedding party that was waiting in Terminal B. She said their Spirit Airlines flight to Los Angeles was canceled.
Wearing a black and gold “maid of dishonor” sash, Blake Lackman told News 12 all flights on Spirit Airlines to LAX were canceled this morning. She said the entire bridal party, including her sister who is the bride, were not able to fly out to their destination.
“It’s very upsetting,” Lackman said.
Lackman said her sister is also upset with the situation and says they were not aware of the computer issue before arriving at the airport. She says they were told their flight was canceled Thursday night and when they checked, everything looked fine and there was only an hour delay.
“Then we get told our flight didn’t even come in, it’s been canceled since last night. But no alerts, no emails, nothing,” she said.
So, what’s the plan for Lackman and the rest of the bridal party? She’s not sure just yet.
Lackman said the group is looking into taking another flight to get closer to their destination so they can drive there or try to get another fight on Saturday.
“I’m not really sure what the plan is at the moment. We’re trying to speak to someone but it’s a bit hard,” she said.
Port Authority says travelers should not go to the airport unless their flight is confirmed, and said systems are not impacted by the outage but there are airlines delays and cancellations.
The Federal Aviation Administration says they're working with airlines to closely monitor the global IT issue that could continue to affect flights this weekend. Travelers can monitor updates here.