American Airlines Ground Stop Brings Delays Across the U.S. on Christmas Eve

A last-minute Christmas surprise roiled holiday travel plans for thousands and thousands of passengers at one of the busiest times of the year.

For nearly an hour and a half on the morning of Christmas Eve, a ground stop for American Airlines was issued after all its flights were held in the U.S. due to an unspecified technical issue, the FAA said. That ground stop has now been lifted.

Ground stops are usually lifted within an hour or so, but they can take a while to unravel and require Air Traffic Control to slot in the delayed flights as soon as possible. It’s a task that much harder at big hub airports than regional ones with lighter departure schedules.

Earlier in the morning, American Airlines issued a statement saying, “A technical issue is affecting American flights this morning. Our teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” American Airlines had said in a statement following the ground stop.

American Airlines told the BBC that a “vendor technology issue” caused the technical snafu.

While it is unclear yet how long the effects of the outage will take to unravel, certain American Airlines hubs like Charlotte Douglas International are already showing signs of severe disruptions. In response to one user on X asking how long it would take to get in the air, American responded, “At present, we don’t have an exact timeframe. Rest assured, our team is working on getting you back on track as soon as possible. We appreciate you hanging in there with us!”

Passengers who end up affected by the delays should consult the Department of Transportation dashboard for information on what type of compensation they might be eligible for.