American Airlines experienced a nationwide operational pause on Christmas Eve after its systems, necessary for releasing aircraft, faced a technical glitch. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that services resumed just before 13:00 GMT. This hiccup occurred during peak travel times, creating significant delays as passengers were eager to embark on holiday journeys.
The airline announced that the disruption was caused by a "vendor technology issue," and assured customers both in a public statement and over social media that they were working tirelessly to alleviate the impact of the outage. "We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience this morning," American Airlines stated. The airline committed to having “all hands on deck” as their teams worked swiftly to assist affected travelers.
Despite the return to service, departure boards across major U.S. airports continued to display delays, with some flights still experiencing interruptions of up to two hours. However, the latest updates from tracking websites like Flightradar24 indicated that a number of flights were resuming, suggesting a gradual return to normalcy. Travelers reported experiences on social media, recounting incidents where they were left stuck on the runway or instructed to disembark from their planes as the outage unfolded.
In a notable moment captured on video by a CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a gate agent informed passengers waiting for a flight to Philadelphia that the systems were beginning to recover, albeit slowly. This incident parallels a similar disruption faced by American Airlines and other carriers last July, when a global IT crash caused widespread travel disruptions throughout the U.S. due to a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, impacting multiple sectors beyond aviation.
