> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thecontrail.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Microsoft Is Down and Airlines Can't Read Your Emails. Is Your Flight Affected? - URL: https://www.thecontrail.org/microsoft-outage-flights/ - Published: 2026-11-13T13:33:41.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-13T16:50:54.000Z - Description: Outlook and Teams have been down since Thursday, and some airlines say they can't get your emails. Here's what it means for flights. - Author: Zach Benitez - Tags: News, Breaking News The Microsoft outage that started Thursday is still dragging on Friday morning, and if you're flying today you're probably wondering whether it's affecting flights. So far, thankfully, the answer is mostly no. Outlook, Teams, Copilot, OneDrive and other Microsoft 365 services have been down or patchy for more than a day, and several airlines say their customer email is affected. But airlines around the world say their flights are running normally, and as of 8:20 a.m. Eastern on Friday, there were no FAA ground stops or ground delays at any US airport. I'll admit I'm getting flashbacks. When the CrowdStrike outage hit in July 2024, a bad software update crashed Windows computers around the world, and airlines were among the hardest hit. Thousands of flights were canceled, and Delta alone canceled about 7,000 over the following days. I was stuck in Houston on my way back from Cuba when it happened, watching departure boards fill up with cancellations. So I'm very glad this one doesn't look anywhere near as bad, at least not yet. Friday, Nov. 13 ยท As of 8:20 a.m. ET Is the Microsoft Outage Affecting Flights? **What's down**Outlook, Teams, Copilot, OneDrive and other Microsoft 365 services, since Thursday **US flights**No FAA ground stops or unusual delays at major hubs **Airlines hit**Customer email at IndiGo, Akasa Air, Malaysia Airlines and Emirates **Flights**Air India and Emirates say flights are running normally **What to do**Use your airline's app, chat or phone instead of email, and save your boarding pass to your phone Graphic: ContrailContrail --- ## What's Down The trouble started Thursday, when Outlook and Teams stopped working for huge numbers of people. Outage tracker Downdetector logged more than 130,000 Outlook problem reports in the US around 1 p.m. Eastern. Microsoft has blamed "elevated infrastructure load and servers becoming unresponsive," and says it has seen no sign of a cyberattack. It has been spreading traffic across its systems and restarting servers, and on Friday morning it said it was seeing "encouraging recovery progress," though some people are still having problems. One useful detail if you're waiting on an email: Microsoft has extended the window for delayed messages to 48 hours, so emails stuck in the backlog should still arrive rather than bounce. --- ## Which Airlines Are Affected The impact so far has mostly hit how airlines talk to customers. In India, IndiGo said it "may not be able to receive your emails" and pointed passengers to its virtual assistant on its website and app, while Akasa Air warned of email delays and sent urgent questions to its call center and social media. Malaysia Airlines reported intermittent email problems and asked anyone who sent website feedback during the outage to resend it. Emirates said customer email might be down but its flights were still operating. Air India said its flight operations were unaffected and it had rerouted its email to keep things moving. Delhi Airport asked passengers to check their flight status before heading to the airport. There are reports that SpiceJet canceled three flights from Delhi on Friday morning and delayed two more because of a technical glitch, but SpiceJet hasn't publicly tied them to Microsoft. ## Know Before You Fly Get flight disruptions that affect your trip, free in your inbox. Get Contrail Free Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. --- ## What About US Flights? US airlines haven't reported any flight problems tied to the outage that I've seen, and the major hubs look normal. As of Friday morning, FlightAware showed no unusual delays at Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago O'Hare, Denver, JFK, Newark or Los Angeles. That's a relief after Thursday, when storms grounded flights across the Northeast and sent about 150 planes to other airports. Here's how [that storm day played out](https://www.thecontrail.org/nyc-airport-delays-today-storm-ground-stop/). The reason this outage isn't grounding planes is that the systems airlines use to actually run flights, like reservations, check-in, crew scheduling and flight planning, mostly don't depend on Outlook or Teams. CrowdStrike was different because it crashed the actual Windows computers sitting at check-in counters and in airline operations centers, which is why it grounded so much. That's not what's happening here, though a long outage can still slow down the people behind the scenes who rely on email and chat to do their jobs. It's also a reminder of how fragile these systems can be, much like [the FAA equipment outage that stopped New York flights](https://www.thecontrail.org/faa-equipment-outage-ground-stop-newark-jfk-laguardia/) in September. --- ## What to Do If You're Flying Your flight itself is very likely fine, so check its status in your airline's app as usual. Where you might notice the outage is if you're waiting on an email from an airline, like a confirmation, a receipt or a reply to a complaint. Use the airline's app, chat or phone line instead, and save your boarding pass to your phone rather than relying on an email. If you need to change or cancel a flight, here's [what airlines owe you when a flight is canceled](https://www.thecontrail.org/flight-canceled-refund-rules/). I'll update this if the outage starts affecting flights.