American Airlines was forced to ground all of its flights across the United States after an IT outage crippled its systems, adding a nationwide breakdown to an already chaotic travel evening. The technology failure meant that any planes not yet in the air had to keep their wheels down, effectively freezing the operations of one of the country's largest carriers.
The outage landed on top of severe weather that had already snarled air travel up and down the East Coast. At one point there were ground stops at all three major New York-area airports because of thunderstorms, and the American Airlines system failure compounded the disruption, leaving travelers to contend with two problems at once.
For passengers, the effects were immediate and disorienting. Some travelers who were already buckled up on their planes and ready to depart were told to disembark once the system went down. One passenger who had been set to fly to Buffalo found herself pulled off the aircraft, unsure of when she would be able to travel again.
Reaching the airline for help proved nearly impossible during the outage. Stranded customers said they tried to call or use live chat with an agent but could not get through to anyone, and the airline's app crashed, cutting off one of the main ways travelers manage their trips. With those options gone, many were left with little choice but to book a hotel and wait.
The scale of the disruption was evident at the airports, where stranded passengers were easy to find as hundreds of flights were canceled. The lucky ones faced only delays, while others resigned themselves to long waits or scrambled for a place to spend the night. For some, the timing was especially painful, including a traveler who feared the chaos would cause her to miss her sister's wedding the next day.
American Airlines was eventually able to fix the computer glitch that had brought its operations to a halt. But even with the systems restored, officials and travelers alike acknowledged that getting all of the airline's flights back in the air and helping the many extra stranded passengers would take time, leaving the ripple effects of the outage likely to stretch into the following day.