American Airlines briefly grounded all flights nationwide on Tuesday, causing widespread disruptions to holiday travel plans. The airline experienced technical issues with its flight operating system (FOS) just as the Christmas travel season kicked into high gear.
Government regulators cleared the airline’s flights to take off about an hour after a national ground stop was ordered. The outage affected FOS, which handles various airline operations such as dispatch, flight planning, and passenger boarding. A system-wide outage is rare, according to American Airlines’ pilots union representative Dennis Tajer.
Customers took to social media to express frustration with delays that caused them to miss connecting flights or experience disruptions in their travel plans. Some passengers were forced to take alternative routes or wait until Christmas Day for their original flight.
Data from Cirium and FlightAware reported significant delays across the US, with 51 American Airlines flights canceled and over 4,000 flights delayed. The winter weather forecast predicted rain and snow in the Pacific Northwest, while freezing rain was reported in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Airlines typically experience smaller peak days during the holiday season than around Thanksgiving. However, even small disruptions can have significant effects, as seen with Southwest Airlines’ grounding of 2 million travelers in December 2022. The Transportation Department’s new rule requiring airlines to provide automatic cash refunds for canceled or delayed flights is also affecting travel plans.
With millions expected to fly over the next 10 days, American Airlines has a buffer to manage delays. However, gas prices and travel times are expected to be higher during the holidays, with INRIX predicting up to 30% longer travel times on highways.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/american-airlines-flights-grounded-halted-travel-c666afa120054b032014c6005677aa7a