Technical drama at American Airlines: Christmas Eve in danger!

Technical drama at American Airlines: Christmas Eve in danger!

On Christmas Eve, many American Airlines passengers experienced an unexpected moment of shock. A technical problem affecting the airline's entire fleet resulted in all flights in the United States being temporarily grounded on Tuesday morning. This measure was lifted about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the order. Despite the quick resolution, it remained unclear how many passengers could be affected by delays, while it was initially estimated that a few thousand passengers may have been affected today.at reported.

The initial impact included more than 1,400 delays and 28 cancellations on flights traveling to or from the United States. Large airports such as Dallas-Fort Worth and New York were particularly affected, where additional problems arose due to winter weather conditions. High passenger numbers are currently expected in the travel week around Christmas, which further complicates the situation. The Transportation Security Administration agreed to a record 40 million travelers during the holidays, posing an additional challenge for airlines, such as AP News reported.

Bad memories of past incidents

The incident is reminiscent of the massive holiday disruptions that have already occurred in the past at airlines such as Southwest, where a system glitch led to 16,900 flight cancellations in 2022 and affected millions of travelers. The industry is particularly vulnerable because smaller airlines often have difficulty rescheduling travelers, while larger airlines such as American, Delta and United have interline agreements that allow transfers to other flights. It is also currently facing the challenges of a new Transportation Department rule requiring airlines to provide automatic refunds for canceled or significantly delayed flights, further impacting traveler dynamics.