Home for Christmas? American Airlines Flights Resume After 'Technical Issue' Briefly Grounded Planes

Amy Curtis | 9:00 AM on December 24, 2024

Hoo boy. It's Christmas Eve -- one of the busiest travel days of the year -- and American Airlines has grounded all flights due to a 'technical' issue.

The FAA just grounded all American Airlines flights nationwide... on Christmas Eve. pic.twitter.com/n2Pcdon1WJ
— John LeFevre (@JohnLeFevre) December 24, 2024

Yikes. Speculation abounded as to what the technical issue was:

Software problem with weight and balance computation. All flights globally affected.
— Stuart Berman (@HereticalLeader) December 24, 2024

Seems to have only impacted American Airlines.

Others thought it was an issue with scanning boarding passes:

Lmfaooooooo all American Airlines flights are grounded because they can’t scan boarding passes. Another reason why this all digital world is so stupid. There should always be a backup system.
— L’Americain (@N4yVar) December 24, 2024

Thankfully, the glitch was short-lived, according to CNN:

Following a brief outage that grounded all American airlines flights during one of the busiest travel periods of the year, American Airlines says it has resumed service Tuesday morning.
American Airlines said a “technical issue” had delayed all of its flights in the United States. But the company began boarding flights again at around 8 am ET, airline spokeswoman Sarah Jantz told CNN.
The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its nationwide groundstop order for all American flights. The FAA in a statement said American requested a nationwide ground stop but it referred all questions to the airline for more information.

Groundstop for American Air lifted by FAA.

After an hour’s delay — hundreds of flights — AA flights moving back to normal.

Patience at the gate & ticket counter.

Frontline AA employees doing their best. They want you to fly! https://t.co/wpDGiTE94O
— (((Charles Fishman))) 💧 (@cfishman) December 24, 2024

They do. Probably more than you want to fly.

American Airlines systems back online. Let’s see if I make my connection.
— MinervaGray (@Minerva47350) December 24, 2024

Lots of people asking themselves this question, probably.

We're glad things seem to be back up and running without significant delays.

But there were some alternative suggestions floating around if things had dragged out:

“The FAA just grounded all American Airlines flights nationwide” pic.twitter.com/Y7m5hnUma3
— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) December 24, 2024

Gus Polinski would get you to your family.

Today feels like a 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' kind of day for some. Take care, stay safe, and Merry Christmas to all travelers and everyone out there! pic.twitter.com/HMlZ8N5cjC
— Jose Roig Borrell (@roigborrell) December 24, 2024

Excellent movie.

Here's hoping we've had our hiccup for the holiday season.