Major Banks And Airlines In Australia, US Report Online Outages

Australia's major financial firms reported customers could not access websites and mobile apps, while a slew of US airlines were also affected.

Major banks and airlines in Australia and the United States suffered brief online outages Thursday, with several blaming an "external provider" for the disruption. Most of Australia's major financial firms reported customers could not access websites and mobile apps, while website Downdetector said a slew of US airlines were also affected. American, Delta, United and Southwest airlines were among them, although all four websites appeared to be working shortly after. The issues appeared to be more prolonged in Australia -- where problems hit in the mid-afternoon as much of the rest of the world slept -- with services only slowly returning an hour after the first reports.