July 8, 2015

All United Flights Worldwide Were Grounded Today


Thanks to an “automation” glitch early on Wednesday morning, United Airlines was forced to ground every single one of its flights. Worldwide. For a whole hour.

FAA

The massive error, which was lifted around 9:50 a.m., sparked long lines and confusion at airports. Though flights have finally begun to slowly take off, the system-wide grounding will undoubtedly throw a wrench into travelers’ plans today.

“We experienced a network connectivity issue this morning,” United said in a statement. “We are working to resolve this and apologize to our customers for any inconvenience.”

The system-wide notice, which follows June’s worldwide grounding, continues United’s reputation as one of the world’s worst airlines. So, business as usual!

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A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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