On Friday, major retailers, including Walmart and Target, encountered serious technical glitches as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) instituted a nationwide ground stop for all departing U.S. flights.
Workers at Walmart, Target, Chipotle, and Skechers experienced challenges due to an outage in Workday, a crucial software for payroll and human resources. Workday, which caters to over 11,500 organizations globally, entered maintenance mode after revealing issues during its backup systems’ testing.
This outage caused various inconsistencies, leaving users unable to access accounts or complete essential tasks. Although Workday promised updates every 30 minutes while investigating, by Friday afternoon, they had not provided a timeline for full service restoration. Both Walmart and Target remained silent on the disruptions related to Workday.
Status websites reported a spike in user complaints regarding the functionality of apps and websites for retailers like Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Costco. These issues involved complications with ordering, account access, and product browsing, aligning with a broader Microsoft 365 outage that affected services worldwide due to server issues.
Officials stated there was no correlation between the Microsoft outage and the FAA’s ground stop.
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JUST IN: HR systems used by Walmart, Chipotle, Target, and more are now facing a MAJOR system outage, per reports
All of them use Workday software.
Unclear if there is any relation to the other major outages this week. pic.twitter.com/3g581B1tAX
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) November 14, 2026
The FAA’s ground stop was initiated at approximately 3:54 p.m. Eastern Time after communication breakdowns affected several Air Route Traffic Control Centers, responsible for managing high-altitude flight traffic. The agency reassured the public via social media, confirming that all flights were accounted for and noting that the pause was a precautionary measure.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin characterized the occurrence as a communication issue, with no signs of foul play, assuring that “everybody’s safe.” The directive aimed at ensuring safety allowed flights already airborne to continue while prohibiting takeoffs.
This disruption led to over 10,000 flight delays and many cancellations, marking the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023 and one of the few since the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
Consequences of the ground stop rippled through transportation networks, resulting in stranded passengers and compounded delays. Airports faced operational turmoil, while Amtrak noted a surge in demand for rail services, leading to problems on their website and phone lines.
“We apologize for the error messages on both our website and app, as well as the difficulty reaching a representative. We are currently experiencing higher-than-normal call volumes due to ongoing airline issues. Furthermore, we recommend trying again later. Thank you,” Amtrak announced in a statement.
