American Airlines temporarily halted all flights across the United States citing unspecified technical problems.
The disruption came at the worst possible time — the start of a busy Christmas Eve travel day. Thankfully, operations resumed around 8 AM ET, according to a statement from American Airlines spokesperson Sarah Jantz provided to CNN.
The widespread issue, described by many travelers on X as a massive system outage, caused significant delays. Passengers reported that boarding passes couldn’t be scanned, and flights couldn’t depart. At 6:50 AM ET, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a notice confirming that American Airlines had grounded all flights nationwide. An update from the FAA at 7:50 AM ET announced the cancellation of the ground stop, signaling the resumption of operations.
Details about what caused the technical failure remain unclear.
American Airlines addressed the situation in a statement on X before flights were cleared to take off: “We’re currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights. Your safety is our utmost priority, once this is rectified, we’ll have you safely on your way to your destination.”
Despite the quick resolution, the unexpected grounding disrupted countless holiday plans, frustrating many passengers during peak travel.
Update, December 25th: American Airlines flights have now resumed nationwide.
