United Steps Up IT Backup Plans

United Airlines has invested in backup plans for disruptions in the wake of technical problems that have grounded its planes twice since early June.

"We know areas where we can beef up backups," chief executive Jeff Smisek said, adding that the airline was investing "a significant amount of time and money" into making sure the bugs are a thing of the past.

Technology is the airline's second-largest capital expenditure after spending on its fleet, Smisek said.

United said it has made investments that add more backup systems to its operations, and it plans additional spending in the future to keep its planes safe.

As airlines switch to electronic luggage tags and boarding passes stored on smartphones, industry consultants have said the impact of technology disruptions will continue to grow.

The first recent incident at United occurred on June 2, when software needed to dispatch the airline's flight plan briefly lost functionality.

Then on July 8, a computer router error locked United out of its reservations records, blocking both check-in and boarding, grounding all of its flights for nearly two hours.

United is so far the only US air carrier to offer a "bug bounty," or free frequent flier miles rewarded to researchers who flag problems on its website before malicious hackers can exploit them.