United flights hit by tech outage, KLM suffers data breach: What we know so far

New Delhi: A tech meltdown grounded United Airlines flights across the US this week, while Dutch carrier KLM revealed a data breach that may have exposed private passenger information. It's been a rough 24 hours in the aviation world, and it’s all digital.

On Wednesday evening, United Airlines paused all its mainline flights due to a sudden tech issue. The outage wasn’t linked to air traffic control but hit major airports like Chicago O’Hare, Newark, Denver, Houston, and San Francisco. Just hours later, KLM confirmed that a third-party cybersecurity breach may have compromised personal data of customers who had contacted their support team recently.

United Airlines first raised flags at around 6:12 p.m. ET (3:42 a.m. IST). The grounding began roughly an hour later, with the airline halting flights at departure airports. By 10:00 p.m. ET (7:30 a.m. IST), the company said the issue was resolved, but the damage was already done.

According to FlightAware, 1,100 United flights were delayed; 35% of its entire Wednesday schedule. Another 157 flights were outright canceled. Even by Thursday, ripple effects were visible with 70 cancellations and 79 delays.

Transport Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the glitch was internal to United’s systems. "The issue was specific to United’s operations,” he said in a post on X, after being briefed by CEO Scott Kirby.

Passengers were left frustrated, stranded, and scrambling for answers. United later said it would cover hotel and meal costs for those hit by the disruption, classifying the tech issue as a preventable one. The FAA also confirmed it was supporting United in dealing with the backlog.

What went down:

While United fought the glitch storm, KLM was dealing with a quieter, but equally alarming, problem. The airline confirmed that a third-party provider managing its customer service systems was hit by a cyberattack. It didn't come from KLM’s own IT infrastructure but from the vendor’s systems used to handle support emails.

Names, email addresses, frequent flyer numbers, and email subject lines may have leaked, the airline said. But there’s some relief, sensitive info like passport details and payment data wasn’t exposed.

KLM has informed Dutch authorities and said it is alerting affected customers. It’s also working on new security steps to prevent more damage, especially from phishing scams.

The airline warned passengers about suspicious emails pretending to be from KLM, asking them to avoid clicking unknown links or giving away personal details.

In a statement, KLM said, "We are actively informing affected individuals and have implemented additional cybersecurity measures to limit further risk.”

This isn’t the first time an airline has taken a hit. In June, Qantas saw a breach from a third-party vendor that impacted six million passengers. Similar stories have popped up across the industry, with attackers targeting service providers instead of airlines directly.

KLM’s case is another reminder that even trusted names can get caught up in digital slip-ups. The breach may not have exposed the most sensitive data, but experts warn it can still be used for phishing attacks.

Red flags for passengers include:

United's outage and KLM's breach tell the same story: technology is the backbone of modern aviation. When it cracks, things fall apart fast.