On Christmas Eve, during one of the busiest travel times of the year, a technical glitch at American Airlines left planes temporarily grounded and kicked off chaos for thousands of travelers.
At 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the airline announced it was “experiencing a technical issue with all American flights,” blaming a “vendor technology issue” for the problem.
Several hours later, the airline announced the issue had been resolved.
We have resolved a vendor technology issue that briefly affected flights this morning. We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and have issued a travel alert to allow for additional flexibility. https://t.co/lAp094H8cx
— americanair (@AmericanAir) December 24, 2024
A travel alert remains in effect.
It was not immediately clear how many travelers were impacted. But at one point, FlightAware’s misery map showed more than 700 flights delayed across the US, with Charlotte Douglas, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami and Washington National airports — all major hubs — the hardest hit.
One video showed an agent at Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida holding passengers at the gate while telling them “our system is down.”
Travelers were also left stranded at LaGuardia Airport early Tuesday as the entire American Airline fleet appeared to remain stagnant with snow piling up on top of the planes around 9 a.m.
