American Airlines Technical Glitch Causes Christmas Chaos After Entire Fleet Grounded

A nationwide system failure threatens holiday travel plans.

AP/David Zalubowski
An American Airlines jetliner waits on a runway for departure from Denver International Airport. AP/David Zalubowski

A technical glitch early on Christmas Eve grounded American Airlines’ entire fleet of planes, setting up the potential for a domino effect of delays on one of the year’s busiest travel days.

The Federal Aviation Administration posted the advisory notice on behalf of the airline on Tuesday morning, saying in a statement that the nationwide ground stop was done at the airliner’s request. The apparent cause was a technical error that affected computer systems.

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