A computer outage affecting both Delta and United Airlines set off a chain of delayed flights across the US.

According to outage-tracking website Downdetector, both airlines saw their systems go offline around 11.40am ET, with the outage lasting for approximately one hour before beginning to recover.

Independent journalist Dave Bondy posted on social media that Delta flights in Detroit, Michigan were unable to board passengers due to all of the airline's computers going down.

Fellow flyers added that similar problems were taking place in Arkansas, Georgia and Florida as well.

Another traveler claimed that United's customer app was down, saying: 'Can’t log in and can’t get in contact with support.'

In a statement on their website, United said: 'We're working to fix a temporary technical issue affecting united.com and the United app. You can't sign in to your MileagePlus account at this time. Please try again later.' 

United later said none of their flights were affected by the computer issue, telling the Daily Mail: 'United encountered a brief technology issue connected to a vendor that prevented customers from logging into their MileagePlus accounts. The issue has been resolved and there was no impact to our flight operations.'

Downdetector revealed that more than half of the Delta customers reporting problems on Tuesday said the issue has shut down the airline's app for booking, checking in and managing upcoming flights.

The Daily Mail reached out to Delta for comment.

Dozens of passengers were seen stuck outside the boarding area at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport just after 12pm ET, with Bondy later adding that flyers were allowed to board flights around 12.45pm.

Problems were also reported with the app for American Airlines as well on Tuesday.

The temporary flight delays have not led to larger airport-wide disruptions, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not noted any major ground stops or delays due to the technical issues at some US travel hubs.

Some flyers claimed that flights which had already boarded were forced to sit on the airport tarmac until the computer problems were resolved and could not lift off.

The majority of outage reports came from Delta users. 

The airline has recently been in the midst of another connectivity controversy after CEO Ed Bastian told employees at company events that Delta did not want to partner with billionaire Elon Musk and his Starlink satellite internet service.

'We do not want to be with Elon Musk. Trust me,' Bastian reportedly said when discussing the airline's decision not to use Starlink, according to a report on X by aviation insider JonNYC.