Customers unable to book online flights with American, Delta and United airlines

Airline customers were unable to book flights with multiple major U.S. airlines on Monday, including American, Delta and United Airlines.

When attempting to book a flight through the companies’ respective booking sites, the pages failed to upload available flights for all three airlines.

Responding to one customer who was struggling to book a flight, American Airlines tweeted, “Yes, we’re aware that the website is down. We’re working hard to resolve those issues.”

Yes, we’re aware that the website is down. We’re working hard to resolve those issues. Meet us in DMs, and we will assist you.

— americanair (@AmericanAir) April 5, 2021

Both Delta and United also acknowledged on Twitter that their booking sites appeared to not be working as they should. The cause of the issues has not been determined.

Hi there. I apologize, this is currently being addressed. Cammie

— Delta (@Delta) April 5, 2021

We would appreciate your patience as our teams are working to resolve this. Please call our teams if you need any assistance in the meantime at 1-800-864-8331. ^LT

— United Airlines (@united) April 5, 2021

Other major U.S. airlines such as JetBlue and Southwest Airlines did not appear to be impacted.

“Delta is engaged with a third-party vendor that is currently troubleshooting a technical issue that is impacting the ability for customers to search for and book flights on Delta.com and the Fly Delta app. Delta’s Customers can still check in for flights and use the platforms to search for other flight planning information. We apologize for the inconvenience,” Delta said in a statement provided to The Hill.

American Airlines also attributed the issues to a third-party vendor.

“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience. There was no impact to flight operations and customers were still able to check in for flights through aa.com,” the airline said in a statement to The Hill.

A United Airlines spokesperson said that customers may still book flights through the airline’s phone system. The spokesperson was unable to say when the booking website would be up and functioning again, adding that the issue may be stemming from the Google Flights system used by United.

A spokesperson for Google confirmed to The Hill that there is a “known issue” on the tech company’s side of the flight system. They stated Google is currently working to implement a solution to the issue.

It is unclear if American and Delta also use the Google Flights system.

The website issues come just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new guidance that stated it was safe for fully vaccinated people to travel on airplanes. The guidance would likely be a boon to the airline industry that has been heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The CDC stated that people traveling domestically do not have to be tested before boarding a flight unless their destination requires a test. COVID-19 tests should still be taken before international flights and masks should still be worn on planes regardless of vaccination status, the CDC said in its new guidelines.

Delta indicated a slight return to normal last week when it announced it would slowly begin reintroducing middle seats into its flights. The airline had blocked off middle seats when the pandemic began in an attempt to provide better social distancing on flights.

— Updated at 4:54 p.m.