Business
From LAX to hospitals to Starbucks, global tech outage brings chaos and frustration
Airlines, banks, healthcare systems, government agencies and other industries across California scrambled to recover Friday from the effects of a widespread global technology outage.
Roughly 100 flights had been canceled by midmorning Friday at Los Angeles International Airport, and even more were delayed. Overnight, travelers facing long delays and cancellations were resigned to trying to get some sleep on the airport’s well-trodden carpeted floor. Some used their luggage as pillows.
At some California hospitals, staff said the outage prevented them from accessing patient charts.
Starbucks faced major disruption to its mobile ordering service throughout the day Friday, meaning caffeine seekers had to place their orders in person at stores, resulting in longer-than-typical lines. Some locations closed for the day.
Some government agencies reduced services.
Travelers at other California airports were facing issues similar to LAX’s.
The chaos stemmed from a faulty update sent by CrowdStrike, a Texas cybersecurity company whose software is widely used, that interfered with the core functions of computers running Microsoft Windows. This caused Microsoft’s infamous “blue screen of death” to pop up and convey a message along the lines of, “Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart.” The outage was not a security incident or a cyberattack, CrowdStrike said.
The company’s chief executive, George Kurtz, said Friday morning that a fix had been made.
“We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption. We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on,” Kurtz wrote on X.
Meanwhile, the defect rippled across technology worldwide. There were reports that some airports were beginning to restart service, but it was unclear when operations would return to normal.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services wrote on X that officials are “closely monitoring the global software outage.”
“Initial reports indicate minor state system outages,” the office wrote. “However, all 911, public safety communications and critical infrastructure is functioning as expected.”
LAX first started to see glitches late Thursday. The outages were initially limited to Frontier Airlines and a few other carriers and were caused partially by a software issue with Navitaire, a boarding pass printing system. The issue grew as more and more airlines began to face the same problems. Delta, American and United airlines were also affected.
A representative for LAX emphasized that the issues facing the airport did not affect flight safety. When a patch of code that caused the problem was fixed in CrowdStrike, the airport started to see airlines come back online, but it is still facing many more delays and cancellations than usual.
On Friday, LAX had more than 70 cancellations before 7 a.m., compared with 14 all day on Wednesday. An hour later that number had swelled to 100 cancellations and 188 delays. At San Francisco International Airport, the numbers were similar. There were 16 cancellations on Wednesday compared with more than 70 Friday morning.
More than 8,800 flights were delayed and more than 2,600 had been canceled across the United States, according to data provided by FlightAware.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was in touch with leadership at Los Angeles World Airports who were “working actively to resolve travel issues,” said Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for the mayor.
“Travelers at LAX and other regional airports should plan ahead for potential delays,” he said.
Frustration among airline employees and passengers was widespread at the airport. Some tried to sleep on a luggage conveyor belt before an airport employee shouted for them to get up.
“It was terrible. It is terrible,” said Elissa Moore, 29. “Cause we’re still going through it.”
Shortly before 6 a.m., a Delta representative took to the intercom to tell passengers that the airport was still allowing planes to land, but that for the time being, all outbound flights were grounded. He advised travelers who are from L.A. to “go home” and check for updates on the company’s app or website.
He added that the company’s system was completely shut down and that the resulting crippling of flight operations was “worse than 9/11.”
Passengers reported waits of up to two hours to get through security into Terminal 2, as many people whose flights were canceled were instructed to retrieve their baggage before trying to rebook their flight.
Passengers whose flights had been canceled stood sullenly in line to rebook but could not complete that task either because of the outages. One video showed a woman at LAX hugging a Delta employee as she cried.
Outside were dozens of planes on the tarmac with nowhere to go.
Gabrielle Watson, an L.A. DJ and music producer, arrived at LAX on Thursday night to catch her 11:59 p.m. United Airlines flight to Chicago with a connection to Columbus, Ohio, so she could play a set Friday at the Secret Dreams Festival.
Watson knew there were problems immediately when she got to her gate and saw the blue screens displayed. Still, her flight boarded and she remained on the plane for hours as delays ravaged the airport.
After about three hours, passengers deplaned and Watson went home, realizing she was not going to make her connecting flight in Chicago. Her flight was canceled about five hours after its scheduled departure time.
“There were a lot of upset people,” she said. “They were spread around on floors everywhere trying to be comfortable waiting for information. It was very stressful and a bit dark.”
Some observers have argued the incident demonstrates the risk of having one potential point of failure affecting millions of computers. At the very least the disruption shows the need for better software in crucial systems, some experts say.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that although new technology has brought major benefits to efficiency and safety, they also have specific vulnerabilities that must be addressed.
“These are the kinds of disruptions that nobody wants to experience, and we’ll be pressing airlines and the software community on what they’re doing to get ahead of this for the next time,” he said.
The effects of the outage went beyond aviation.
Within the Providence healthcare system, IT teams worked overnight to restore functionality in electronic health records. The healthcare company noted that other clinical applications and workstations were still not up and running as of Friday afternoon.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said it was also experiencing fallout from the software outage, though the hospital remained open Friday.
“We are actively working to address the issue and minimize any impacts,” the hospital said in a statement. “We thank our patients and our staff for their flexibility during this unexpected event.”
The outage even upended people’s coffee fix.
“We continue to welcome and serve customers in the vast majority of our stores and drive-thrus and are doing everything we can to bring all systems online as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience,” said Jaci Anderson, a spokesperson for Starbucks.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles was forced to scale back services at offices statewide. Online services and kiosks were not affected by the outage, according to the agency.
People in California’s jails were unable to make or receive phone calls because of the outage. The software update affected ViaPath, the communication technology used in jails, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It is not clear when the system will be up and running.
“CDCR understands how important it is for incarcerated people to stay connected with their loved ones and is diligently working to resolve this matter,” a spokesperson told The Times.
The Los Angeles County Superior Court system was forced to postpone cases in which litigants were scheduled to appear remotely Friday. The court said in a statement it is “rapidly working to reestablish connectivity.”
A terminal at the Port of Los Angeles and four terminals at the Port of Long Beach were also temporarily affected by the outage overnight. But the ports were operating normally Friday, officials said.
KGO-TV, the ABC affiliate in San Francisco, couldn’t go on air as scheduled for its 11 p.m. newscast. Instead anchors delivered the day’s top headlines via Facebook live.
Times staff writers Joseph Serna, Ruben Vives, Libor Jany, David Zahniser, Jon Healey and Sandra McDonald and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Politicians in Washington and the reporters who cover them have an often adversarial relationship.
But on the last Saturday in April, they gather for an irreverent celebration of press freedom and the First Amendment at the Washington Hilton Hotel: The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Hosted by the association, an organization that helps ensure access for media outlets covering the presidency, the dinner attracts Hollywood stars; politicians from both parties; and representatives of more than 100 networks, newspapers, magazines and wire services.
While The Times will have two reporters in the ballroom covering the event, the company no longer buys seats at the party, said Richard W. Stevenson, the Washington bureau chief. The decision goes back almost two decades; the last dinner The Times attended as an organization was in 2007.
“We made a judgment back then that the event had become too celebrity-focused and was undercutting our need to demonstrate to readers that we always seek to maintain a proper distance from the people we cover, many of whom attend as guests,” he said.
It’s a decision, he added, that “we have stuck by through both Republican and Democratic administrations, although we support the work of the White House Correspondents’ Association.”
Susan Wessling, The Times’s Standards editor, said the policy is a product of the organization’s desire to maintain editorial independence.
“We don’t want to leave readers with any questions about our independence and credibility by seeming to be overly friendly with people whose words and actions we need to report on,” she said.
The celebrity mentalist Oz Pearlman is headlining the evening, in lieu of the usual comedy set by the likes of Stephen Colbert and Hasan Minhaj, but all eyes will be on President Trump, who will make his first appearance at the dinner as president.
Mr. Trump has boycotted the event since 2011, when he was the butt of punchlines delivered by President Barack Obama and the talk show host Seth Meyers mocking his hair, his reality TV show and his preoccupation with the “birther” movement.
Last month, though, Mr. Trump, who has a contentious relationship with the media, announced his intention to attend this year’s dinner, where he will speak to a room full of the same reporters he often derides as “enemies of the people.”
Times reporters will be there to document the highs, the lows and the reactions in the room. A reporter for the Styles desk has also been assigned to cover the robust roster of after-parties around Washington.
Some off-duty reporters from The Times will also be present at this late-night circuit, though everyone remains cognizant of their roles, said Patrick Healy, The Times’s assistant managing editor for Standards and Trust.
“If they’re reporting, there’s a notebook or recorder out as usual,” he said. “If they’re not, they’re pros who know they’re always identifiable as Times journalists.”
For most of The Times’s reporters and editors, though, the evening will be experienced from home.
“The rest of us will be able to follow the coverage,” Mr. Stevenson said, “without having to don our tuxes or gowns.”
A former female staffer who worked for Beast Industries, the media venture behind the popular YouTube channel MrBeast, is suing the company, alleging she was sexually harassed and fired shortly after she returned from maternity leave.
The employee, Lorrayne Mavromatis, a Brazilian-born social media professional, alleges in a lawsuit she was subjected to sexual harassment by the company’s management and demoted after she complained about her treatment. She said she was urged to join a conference call while in labor and expected to work during her maternity leave in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act, according to the federal complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
“This clout-chasing complaint is built on deliberate misrepresentations and categorically false statements, and we have the receipts to prove it. There is extensive evidence — including Slack and WhatsApp messages, company documents, and witness testimony — that unequivocally refutes her claims. We will not submit to opportunistic lawyers looking to manufacture a payday from us,” Gaude Paez, a Beast Industries spokesperson, said in a statement.
Jimmy Donaldson, 27, began MrBeast as a teen gaming channel that soon exploded into a media company worth an estimated $5 billion, with 500 employees and 450 million subscribers who watch its games, stunts and giveaways.
Mavromatis, who was hired in 2022 as its head of Instagram, described a pervasive climate of discrimination and harassment, according to the lawsuit.
In her complaint, she alleges the company’s former CEO James Warren made her meet him at his home for one-on-one meetings while he commented on her looks and dismissed her complaints about a male client’s unwanted advances, telling her “she should be honored that the client was hitting on her.”
When Mavromatis asked Warren why MrBeast, Donaldson, would not work with her, she was told that “she is a beautiful woman and her appearance had a certain sexual effect on Jimmy,” and, “Let’s just say that when you’re around and he goes to the restroom, he’s not actually using the restroom.”
Paez refuted the claim.
“That’s ridiculous. This is an allegation fabricated for the sole purpose of sparking headlines,” Paez said.
Mavromatis said she endured a slate of other indignities such as being told by Donaldson that she “would only participate in her video shoot if she brought him a beer.”
“In this male-centric workplace, Plaintiff, one of the few women in a high-level role, was excluded from otherwise all-male meetings, demeaned in front of colleagues, harassed, and suffered from males be given preferential treatment in employment decisions,” states the complaint.
When Mavromatis raised a question during a staff meeting with her team, she said a male colleague told her to “shut up” or “stop talking.”
At MrBeast headquarters in Greenville, N.C., she said male executives mocked female contestants participating in BeastGames, “who complained they did not have access to feminine hygiene products and clean underwear while participating in the show.”
In November 2023, Mavromatis formally complained about “the sexually inappropriate encounters and harassment, and demeaning and hostile work environment she and other female employees had been living and experiencing working at MrBeast,” to the company’s then head of human resources, Sue Parisher, who is also Donaldson’s mother, according to the suit.
In her complaint, Mavromatis said Beast Industries did not have a method or process for employees to report such issues either anonymously or to a third party, rather employees were expected to follow the company’s handbook, “How to Succeed In MrBeast Production.”
In it, employees were instructed that, “It’s okay for the boys to be childish,” “if talent wants to draw a dick on the white board in the video or do something stupid, let them” and “No does not mean no,” according to the complaint.
Mavromatis alleges that she was demoted and then fired.
Paez said that Mavromatis’s role was eliminated as part of a reorganization of an underperforming group within Beast Industries and that she was made aware of this.
Lululemon, the yoga pants and athletic clothing company, has hired a former executive from a rival, Nike, as its new chief executive.
Heidi O’Neill, who spent more than 25 years at Nike, will take the reins and join Lululemon’s board of directors on Sept. 8, the company announced on Wednesday.
The leadership change is happening during a tumultuous time for Lululemon, which had grown to $11 billion in revenue by persuading shoppers to ditch their jeans and slacks for stretchy leggings. But lately, sales have declined in North America amid intense competition and shifting fashion trends, with consumers favoring looser styles rather than the form-fitting silhouettes for which Lululemon is best known.
“As I step into the C.E.O. role in September, my job will be to build on that foundation — to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world,” Ms. O’Neill, 61, said in a statement.
Lululemon, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has also been entangled in a corporate power struggle over the company’s future. Its billionaire founder, Chip Wilson, has feuded with the board, nominated independent directors and criticized executives.
Lululemon’s previous chief executive, Calvin McDonald, stepped down at the end of January as pressure mounted from Mr. Wilson and some investors. One activist investor, Elliott Investment Management, had pushed its own chief executive candidate, who was not selected.
The interim co-chiefs, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini, will lead the company until Ms. O’Neill’s arrival, when they are expected to return to other senior roles. The pair had outlined a plan to revive sales at Lululemon, promising to invest in stores, save more money and speed up product development.
“We start the year with a real plan, with real strategies,” Mr. Maestrini said in an interview this year. “We make sure decisions are made fast.”
Lululemon said last month that it would add Chip Bergh, the former chief executive of Levi Strauss, to its board to replace David Mussafer, the chairman of the private equity firm Advent International, whom Mr. Wilson had sought to remove.
Ms. O’Neill climbed the organizational chart at Nike for decades, working across divisions including consumer sports, product innovation and brand marketing, and was most recently its president of consumer, product and brand. She left Nike last year amid a shake-up of senior management that led to the elimination of her role.
Analysts said Ms. O’Neill would be expected to find ways to energize Lululemon’s business and reset the company’s culture in order to improve performance.
“O’Neill is her own person who will come with an agenda of change,” said Neil Saunders, the managing director of GlobalData, a data analytics and consulting company. “The task ahead is a significant one, but it can be undertaken from a position of relative stability.”
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