MORRISVILLE, N.C. — A cybersecurity update caused a global power outage Friday, knocking out systems at airports, including those in North Carolina.

What You Need To Know

  • A global power outage caused by CrowdStrike caused flight delays and cancellations in N.C.

  • More than 200 flights were either delayed or canceled at RDU on Friday according to FlightAware

  • Denise Reinert waited at the airport for more than 12 hours

George Kurtz, the CEO of CrowdStrike, directed the public to a blog post on X. Kurtz said, “The outage was caused by a defect” in a software content update for Windows.

It caused people to be stranded for hours at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. 

At one point, the flight-tracking tech company FlightAware listed nearly 250 cancellations and delays on its website. 

Most travelers stuck at the airport said they simply wanted to reach their destination.

“It’s awful,” Denise Reinert said.

Reinert was ready to call it quits after being on her feet long before sunrise.

Reinert, who lives in Fuquay-Varina, said she called Delta Air Lines to remedy the situation but waited over an hour and 20 minutes on hold. She said it felt like eons as the line to the counter hardly moved.

Reinert said she arrived at the airport with her husband, Charles, at 3:30 a.m. after waking up at 2 a.m.

The couple has a cruise booked out of the Pacific northwest and didn’t learn that a cybersecurity outage was the issue until they were about to board Friday morning.

“We didn’t know anything. They told us when we got to the gate that all international flights had been canceled,” Reinert said.

After having their first two flights canceled, the couple planned to celebrate an early wedding anniversary and hoped the third attempt at booking a flight was a charm.

“We’re concerned. We’re concerned. We (have) got to make it. We (have) got to find some way to get on there,” Reinert said.

Andrew Harris anxiously stood by the exit to inbound flights for his wife to return from a trip to Moscow, Russia. He said they communicated throughout the day. When Anastasia Harris finally arrived, the couple shared a loving and long embrace.

“So happy. It makes life so much easier. It’s a stress relief,” Andrew Harris said.

A headache they are grateful to avoid.

One interesting note from the Assistant Chief of Police at RDU Dean Edwards is that he conducted “temperature checks” on fliers to ensure they were OK. According to him, this is a form of gauging crowd behavior.