This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
It is not yet clear how many passengers have been affected
A massive airline system failure has left thousands of travellers facing lengthy delays. Alaska Airlines called for a temporary ground stop early on Friday morning (October 24) which resulted in at least 229 flights being axed.
The number of passengers – including Britons – who may have been delayed or impacted remains unclear. Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, was also hit by the disruption. Flight operations have now resumed.
The carrier emphasised that safety was never compromised during the breakdown, which stemmed from a malfunction at the airline’s primary data centre. Matas Cenys, head of product at Saily, explained that even small technical faults can paralyse vital processes, creating chaos for travellers.
They explained: “Airlines today operate on highly interconnected digital systems. When one system fails, the effects can spread across the entire network, grounding flights and disrupting operations. This is why Alaska Airlines’ recent outage, while labeled a ‘technical error’, caused widespread cancellations and delays. Even minor glitches can freeze critical processes because redundancy systems are not always perfect.
“Airlines’ digital systems are like a row of dominoes. Each system – scheduling, crew assignments, baggage, gates – depends on the one before it. If a single one falls, even from something small, like a database error, it can trigger a chain reaction that stops the whole operation. Most passengers never see these links, but that’s how flights keep running on time.
“There’s also a cybersecurity overlap. Even when outages are accidental, system downtime can create potential opportunities for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities. During a disruption, normal safeguards and monitoring may be reduced or delayed, allowing malicious actors to target systems before defences are fully restored.
“Travel runs on trust that systems will work, flights will depart, and bags will arrive. Every outage chips away that confidence. Rebuilding it will require transparency and visible investment in resilience.
“Every outage has a huge human cost. Travelers get stranded in airports, tired and nervous, and airport workers have to operate under stress trying to manage the chaos. This incident should serve as a reminder to the entire travel and tech industry to reassess and reinforce their IT systems.”
A London-bound Air India plane carrying more than 240 people crashed shortly after takeoff Thursday. The plane in question was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which was the subject of recent whistleblowing claims
10:02, 13 Jun 2025Updated 11:34, 13 Jun 2025
Passengers are wondering how to find out if they’re booked onto a Dreamliner (Image: motive56 via Getty Images)
Tragedy struck when an Air India aircraft destined for London with over 240 souls on board met a catastrophic end shortly after takeoff on Thursday.
The incident involving the Air India flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 referred to as Dreamliner, occurred when it crashed into a residential zone barely five minutes following its departure.
In response to the news, a Boeing spokesperson said the company was aware of the crash reports and is “working to gather more information.”
This marked the inaugural fatal accident involving a Boeing 787, a modern widebody, twin-engine jet also recognised as the Dreamliner. However, this adds to the recent spate of misfortunes for Boeing, with the majority linked to the 737 Max, one of their different models.
The first Boeing 787-8 was delivered to an airline in 2011(Image: DigiPub via Getty Images)
The crash has led many to question whether flying on a Dreamliner is safe, how they can find out if they’re booked onto one and if they’re able to choose a different aircraft if they are. Here’s everything you need to know:
Is flying on a Dreamliner safe?
Up until now, the Dreamliner 787-8 had recorded no fatalities, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The plane involved in the crash was built in 2013, with Air India flying nearly three dozen of the jets. The first Dreamliner was delivered in 2011.
It will take a long time to find out what the cause of this crash was, although crashes tend to be the result of multiple different factors such as bird strikes, pilot error, manufacturing defects and inadequate maintenance.
Dreamliner’s safety record has come under an unusual amount of scrutiny in recent years. Deliveries of the plane were paused for more than a year until the summer of 2022 so that manufacturer Boeing could address quality concerns on some of the aircraft, the New York Times reports.
This included filling paper-thin gaps in the plane’s body and replacing some titanium parts that were made with the wrong material.
In response to whistle-blower claims that parts of the body of the Dreamliner were not properly fastened together, Boeing publically claimed that there was no evidence of this following extensive testing. The manufactuer released testing data which showed that one 787 test airframe had shown no signs of fatigue after the equivalent of 165,000 flight cycles, the NYT reports.
Back in 2022, the longest-serving Dreamliner in actual service had flown only a tenth as far as the test plane.
What tests are carried out to ensure planes are safe to fly?
All planes, including Boeing, are required to undergo comprehensive safety checks involving pre-flight inspections, maintenance programs and regulatory oversight. Among the required checked are daily and pre-flight inspections by engineers and pilots, and scheduled maintenance checks. These involve regularly checking machines and replacing parts to maintain performance, increase efficiency and ensure reliability.
While it may feel like it thanks to a series of high profile incidents, the short answer is no. Travel via commercial aircraft remains one of the safest forms of travel.
A 2017 Harvard study placed the odds of dying in a plane crash at one in 11 million, compared to one in 5,000 for a car crash. An International Air Transport Association annual safety report published this year found that commercial air travel is getting safer, generally speaking.
The accident rate last year was better than the five-year average, but worse than the best year recorded in 2023.
How can I find out if I’m flying on a 787-8?
Almost all airlines list the type of aircraft they’ll be using during the booking process. If you’ve already booked, you can use third-party sites like SeatGuru and FlightRadar24 to look up the aircraft type after you’ve booked by tapping in your flight number.
Can I cancel my flight if I’m worried about the plane type?
If you call up your airline and explain that you don’t want to fly on a certain type of airline, they may help you switch flights. But that would be up to them to decide. They’d have no legal obligation to do so unless you bought a flexible fare or very good travel insurance that specifically allows you to change your flight.
