American Airlines technical issue, bad weather leads to flight delays

(NewsNation) — American Airlines experienced system-wide technical difficulties that briefly grounded flights around the country Tuesday, just as passengers tried to reach their holiday destinations.

The carrier lifted the order after initially issuing a statement saying it was working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologized for any inconvenience travelers may experience.

The ground order lasted about an hour and stemmed from a vendor technology issue. The technology affected American Airlines' flight operating system that's needed to release flights.

About 1,000 American flights were delayed as of Tuesday afternoon, roughly 40% of the airline's schedule for the busy travel day, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware. Only 13 American flights have been canceled.

Flights at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport — a main hub for American — were the most impacted. Almost 60% of flights out of DFW were delayed Tuesday, although stormy weather was also a major contributor.

Bad weather forced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue two ground stops for planes heading to DFW on Tuesday. The ground stop was no longer in effect as of Tuesday afternoon.

"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," American Airlines said.

In other related weather ground stop orders, passengers flying out of LaGuardia Airport in New York were under an order until 9:15 a.m. CT due to snow, ice and low visibility.

Travelers are asked to contact the airline for the most accurate travel updates on their flight.

Passengers told NewsNation that they experienced delays of between 30 to 90 minutes due to the nationwide outage. Most flights were running on time by Tuesday afternoon. The outage also affected American Airlines pilots who told NewsNation that the technology glitch kept them from accurately reading fuel levels.

The outage took place as an estimated 7.85 million people are expected to fly as part of their holiday travel plans, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).