Technical problem paralyzes all US American Airlines flights: how to check the status of yours

Amid what is set to be the busiest holiday season ever for air travel in the United States, American Airlines passengers have suffered Christmas Eve disruption today, after the company briefly sought a ground stop from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

FAA orders stop on all American flights

At 6:50 a.m. ET, the FAA revealed that it had ordered a ground stop for all American Airlines flights in the US, having issued the instruction at the company’s own request. An hour later, the FAA announced the cancellation of the stop.

AAL reports “technical issue”

American Airlines initially said it had asked the FAA for the ground stop due to a “technical issue”, and later expanded on this explanation by referring to the problem as a “vendor technology issue”, which the carrier said has now been solved.

In a statement issued to media outlets, American Airlines said: “A vendor technology issue briefly affected flights this morning. That issue has been resolved and flights have resumed.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning. It’s all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible.”

Speaking to CNN, American Airlines spokesperson Sarah Jantz said passengers may continue to experience delays in the wake of the outage. “Expect some delays throughout the day but [we’re] working to mitigate those and avoid cancels,” Jantz said. “We have a smaller schedule today and have the staffing to support the quick recovery.”

How to track your American Airlines flight

If you are travelling with American Airlines today, you can check the status of your flight on the company’s live tracker.

TSA anticipating leap in holiday air travel

According to a press release issued by the US Department of Transportation last week, the country’s Transport Security Administration expects to screen around 40 million passengers at American airports between December 19 and January 6, up 6.2% on the numbers experienced in the 2023 holiday season.

What is a ground stop?

Per the FAA, a ground stop is “a process that requires aircraft that meet a specific criteria to remain on the ground”. Such a stop can be applied both locally and nationally. The body adds that a ground stop may be called due to airport or airspace conditions, or - as is apparently the case in today’s American Airlines stop - problems with equipment.

“GSs [ground stops] normally occur with little or no warning,” the FAA adds.

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