More than 800 United Airlines flights were cancelled and hundreds more delayed by late Wednesday following a major technology outage that forced a systemwide ground stop across the United States, severely disrupting both domestic and international travel.

At Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), where United operates a key hub, long lines and frustrated passengers filled terminals. The airline traced the outage to failures in its dispatch and fuelling systems. "Due to a technology issue, we are holding United mainline flights at their departure airports," United said in a statement. "We expect additional flight delays this evening as we work through this issue."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that the grounding was initiated by United and shared an official statement on social media: "United Airlines requested the FAA to pause its departures nationwide while they addressed a technology issue. The FAA is monitoring the situation closely." Among those affected was Ishya, a young professional from New York scheduled to return to LaGuardia Airport after a brief family visit in Houston.