American Airlines flights resume after technical problem on Christmas Eve

STORY: “American Airlines computers are down, we’re flying…”

That’s not how anyone wants to spend Christmas Eve.

But thousands of people across the United States were forced to pack their patience Tuesday when American Airlines issued an hour-long ground stop.

The carrier said a supplier technology issue briefly affected its ability to get planes into U.S. airspace … on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

“Oh, we were scared. We wanted to be back home with our family.”

The flight resumed and the passengers avoided being stranded at US airports for any length of time.

But the news that so many flights were grounded left others worried … like Jenise Hampton, who was traveling from New York’s La Guardia Airport.

“Oh, I was very anxious when we woke up this morning and we heard it on the news, we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to come home for Christmas. But we could. We came here and our flight. is on time. So we’re relieved and ready to go back to Alabama.”

Many others crossed their fingers for a smooth journey home:

“Well, I have very low expectations of how it’s going to go. So it’s going to be fine, because I’m still moving, the lines are moving, and we’ll be fine. I’ll be home at some point.”

The relatively short stop means the airline is likely to avoid a full-scale meltdown that could ripple for days during the peak holiday travel season.

American — which operates thousands of flights a day to more than 350 destinations — was not immediately available to elaborate on the technical glitch.