American Airlines flights grounded nationwide on Christmas Eve due to ‘technical issue’

On By Littum

It’s the bug that stole Christmas.

American Airlines threw holiday travel into chaos on Christmas Eve after temporarily grounding all flights due to technical issues.

The airline warned travelers just after 06:30 that it “experienced a technical problem with all US flights”, without elaborating. American later blamed a “supplier technology issue” for the problem.

American Airlines grounded all of its U.S. flights on Tuesday due to an unspecified technical problem, disrupting the travel plans of thousands scheduled to fly on Christmas Eve. Gregory P. Mango
Neither the FAA nor American immediately detailed what forced the unexpected stop.

It was not immediately clear how many travelers were affected. But at some point, FlightAware’s misery map showed more than 700 flights delayed across the United States, with Charlotte Douglas, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami and Washington National airports — all major hubs — the hardest hit.

A 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 grounded with snow piling up on top of the planes around 8 p.m.

The airline warned travelers just after 6:30 a.m. that it was “experiencing a technical issue with all US flights.” AP
Just before 8 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration announced that the ground stop had been lifted. Gregory P. Mango

Jackie Winter, a retired NYPD officer and current Long Island school teacher, expressed concern that her flight to Sarasota, Florida, would be one of those that would not reach its destination on time.

“Look, their planes aren’t even de-icing and the Continental is flying around them heading for the runways! No American Airlines planes are even taking off! On time? I bet!” Winter said.

In a video, passengers were seen departing Tuesday morning at Boston’s Logan Airport. X / @SurfSkiWeather

About 40 minutes later, the company began deicing the plane, videos showed.

The technical problem couldn’t have hit at a worse time, as about 40 million passengers are expected to travel through an airport during the holidays through Jan. 2, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

The airline has thousands of flights every day to over 350 destinations in over 60 countries.

With Post wires.