Microsoft cloud outage triggers global disruptions: Xbox, Outlook, airlines among those hit

Dubai: Microsoft’s cloud platform suffered widespread disruptions on Wednesday after an internal configuration error hit its Azure service, disrupting major online platforms and corporate systems worldwide.

The issue, which began around 4pm GMT, stemmed from Azure Front Door — Microsoft’s global content delivery network that helps companies improve application performance and route user traffic efficiently.

Reports of outages quickly spread across several regions, with users flagging problems on Downdetector for services including Office 365, Xbox Live, Minecraft, Copilot, Costco, and Starbucks.

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines were among the hardest-hit customers, with both carriers warning passengers that critical systems had gone offline.

"Due to a global outage impacting the Microsoft Azure platform where several Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines services are hosted, we are currently experiencing a disruption to key systems, including our websites," Alaska Airlines said in a statement to passengers.

The airline urged travelers unable to check in online to visit airport agents for boarding passes and allow extra time at the terminal. 'We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we navigate this issue,' the carrier added.

In a post on X, Microsoft said its engineers were investigating “an issue impacting Azure Front Door services,” adding that customers may experience “intermittent request failures or latency.” The company later confirmed that the disruption was linked to an “inadvertent configuration change” and that efforts were underway to roll back the update.

Configuration changes — while routine in large-scale tech systems — can occasionally trigger chain reactions, especially in globally interconnected cloud environments where even a minor misstep can spread rapidly across dependent networks.

As of late Wednesday, Microsoft had not given a timeline for a full recovery, though partial access had been restored for some users.

The outage comes just a week after a massive Amazon Web Services (AWS) failure that took several of its key data centers offline, disrupting hundreds of major websites and business operations for nearly 15 hours.