American Airlines flights briefly grounded on Christmas Eve. What you should know
American Airlines flights are delayed nationwide on one of the busiest travel days of the year at airports around the nation, including Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
The airline says it was experiencing systems issues on Christmas Eve morning.
American Airlines released a statement Tuesday morning following the ground stop:
“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.”
Around 8 a.m. AA lifted the ground stop.
“Our advice for passengers traveling with AA today from FLL is to check with the airline for updated flight status before coming to the airport in the event of any scheduling changes,” said Arlene Satchell, spokeswoman for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
What AA said
The airline issued a statement to the Miami Herald on Tuesday morning:
“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.”
In addition, the airline released a couple details.
▪ The technology issue impacted systems needed to release flights.
▪ The ground stop lasted about one hour.
▪ Customers can find latest information on their flight using the mobile app and aa.com.
Throughout the day there were a couple dozen delayed AA flights operating out of MIA, a hub airport, and a handful out of FLL.
How to check your flight status at MIA and FLL
▪ Miami International Airport has two online trackers you can use.
One of MIA’s flight trackers shows a list of all expected arrivals and departures with options to use a drop-down menu to narrow results. It shows the carrier, flight number and where the plane is going to or coming from. It also gives real-time updates on the flight’s arrival or departure status, which concourse the terminal is in, and the location of baggage claim. The other online tool lets you track by flight or route. If you know the carrier, the date and the flight number, this tool might be easier to use because it will only pull the information for your flight.
▪ Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport’s flight tracker works by flight or route. You’ll need to know the date, along with the airline carrier and flight number, or the departure and arrival airport. The tool also gives people the option to see a list of all expected arrivals and departures and details on the flight’s terminal and baggage claim, too.
This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 8:40 AM.
