Ugly error when GitLab is down

Summary

I tested some new functionality during a GitLab.com incident. As I was checking out the help text of a new command it did not require networking to GitLab, it still ended the response with

failed checking for glab updates: GET https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/gitlab-org/cli/releases: 503 failed to parse unknown error format: 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1" name="viewport">
  <title>503 Server Unavailable</title>
  <style>
    body {
      color: #666;
      text-align: center;
      font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
      margin: auto;
      font-size: 14px;
    }

    h1 {
      font-size: 56px;
      line-height: 100px;
      font-weight: normal;
      color: #456;
    }

    h2 {
      font-size: 24px;
      color: #666;
      line-height: 1.5em;
    }

    h3 {
      color: #456;
      font-size: 20px;
      font-weight: normal;
      line-height: 28px;
    }

    hr {
      max-width: 800px;
      margin: 18px auto;
      border: 0;
      border-top: 1px solid #EEE;
      border-bottom: 1px solid white;
    }

    img {
      max-width: 40vw;
    }

    .container {
      margin: auto 20px;
    }
  </style>
</head>

<body>
  <h1>
    <img src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,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" alt="GitLab Logo" /><br />
    503
  </h1>
  <div class="container">
    <h3>An internal server error occured.</h3>
    <hr />
    <p>Please see our <a href="https://status.gitlab.com">status page</a> for more information.</p>
  </div>
</body>
</html>

Would it be possible to fail more gracefully?

Steps to reproduce

1. Shut down gitlab.com 😁
2. Run any glab command
3. (Wait for the timeout or retries?) - it takes some time for the commands to return
4. Check the output

Example Project

What is the current bug behavior?

Every command ends with an HTML error page

What is the expected correct behavior?

In case of the update checking, it should just fail silently or show a message that checking for updates failed. - to be decided by the PM

Relevant logs and/or screenshots

Output of checks

Possible fixes

~"devops::release" ~"group::release" GitLab Release CLI Category:Release Orchestration