USA travel chaos has been sparked by a major nationwide computer failure.
The technical issue has impacted US Customs nationwide, leading to enormous delays across America, as the systems normally used US Customs and border protection to check incoming travellers’ passports suffered an outage.
Backup systems are being introduced to combat the knock-on effects but these are much slower, the airports have said.
Customs is working to diagnose the computer problem at this time.
Passengers are being urged to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said it was taking “immediate action” to deal with the temporary outage.
It tweeted: “CBP is experiencing a temporary outage with its processing systems at various airports of entry & is taking immediate action to address the technology disruption. CBP officers continue to process international travellers using alternative procedures until systems are back online.”
CBP added: “CBP officers are working to process travelers as quickly as possible while maintaining the highest levels of security.”
JFK Airport tweeted: “Customs systems are down right now nationwide but they are starting to use backup systems. People are being processed, but slower.”
Los Angeles International Airport also warned passengers of delays due to the problem.
LAX tweeted: “@CBP systems are experiencing an issue which appears to be impacting multiple airports including LAX. Officers are processing passengers manually so please check with your airline for the latest status of any flight impacts. More details as they become available.”
Frustrated airport passengers have taken to social media to share images of huge queues as the travel plans of “hundreds of passengers” are thrown into disarray.
Traveller Mike Donkle posted a photo to twitter taken at Dulles Airport of crowds of passengers.
“Hundreds of passengers stranded in customs at IAD due to ‘computer problems’. Nothing is moving. Very frustrating,” he posted.
Another flier tweeted: “I was finally able to check in for a flight before actually getting to the airport & now US Customs systems are down NATION WIDE! Line is crazy & getting crazier.
A third wrote: “At Dulles, just announced that the US Customs system is down nationwide. Good job, guys!”
Another traveller tweeted: “Whoever tripped over the power cord at the US Customs datacenter better go back and plug the servers back in. Back ups all over the place… at YVR a bunch of us are going to miss our flights if you don’t get yourselves back online.”
