July 8, 2015

Router Failure Grounds Entire United Fleet

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Greece is in trouble. China is in trouble. Puerto Rico is in trouble. The New York Stock Exchange has been shut down over a “technical issue.” And United Airlines has halted all its flights:

United midday on Wednesday said that the grounding had been caused by a computer-network router that malfunctioned, which disrupted its passenger reservations system. That meant that many passengers couldn’t check in for their flights. The disruption affected some places more than others, but it covered the entire network, which was why United decided to ground its entire mainline and United Express fleet worldwide.

Yikes! The malfunction of a single router torpedoed United’s reservation system for an entire day? That must be a pretty delicate network they’re running there.

HERE ARE THE FACTS:

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ONE MORE QUICK THING:

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As we wrote over the summer, traffic has been down at Mother Jones and a lot of sites with many people thinking news is less important now that Donald Trump is no longer president. But if you're reading this, you're not one of those people, and we're hoping we can rally support from folks like you who really get why our reporting matters right now. And that's how it's always worked: For 45 years now, a relatively small group of readers (compared to everyone we reach) who pitch in from time to time has allowed Mother Jones to do the type of journalism the moment demands and keep it free for everyone else.

Please pitch in with a donation during our fall fundraising drive if you can. We can't afford to come up short, and there's still a long way to go by November 5.

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