India, Nov. 15 -- Aliens, a cyberattack or another global tech meltdown? As flights across the United States were grounded for over four hours on Friday, November 13, wild theories took off online while stranded passengers scrambled for answers.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted departures nationwide following a communications failure, lifting the ground stop at 8.15pm Eastern Time. By late Friday, more than 10,000 delays and 4,000 cancellations had been recorded across the US.

With little clarity initially, social media was abuzz with speculation. On Reddit, a user identifying themselves as a flight attendant questioned the sudden shutdown, drawing parallels with the recent Microsoft outage. The incident also caught the ...