Nationwide airport computer outage delays international travelers at O'Hare, Midway

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - Airports across the country were disrupted Friday as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection experienced an outage of its processing system.

The outage affected several airports including O’Hare and Midway, according to CBP spokesman Steve Bansbach, who said the outage involved an IT issue.

The technical issue, first reported about 5 p.m., was corrected an hour later, the Chicago Dept. of Aviation said in a statement.

International travelers arriving Friday night at O’Hare and Midway were still expected to encounter longer than usual wait times, CDA said.

Shortly after the outage was reported, people shared photos on social media of large crowds and lines at airport checkpoints.

Bansbach was unsure what caused the outage, but said the agency did not suspect malicious activity.

“It’s affecting random airports,” Bansbach said. “I’ve had calls that the issue is affecting airports in Calgary, Alberta and at JFK.”

The Chicago Department of Aviation released statements saying security officers and customer service representatives were dispatched to O’Hare’s Terminal 5 to assist with crowd management during the outage.