American Airlines Briefly Grounds U.S. Flights on Christmas Eve Over Technical Issue

Thousands of travelers trying to make it to their loved ones for the holidays were stuck at airports through much of Tuesday after American Airlines briefly grounded all its flights in the United States because of a technical issue and bad weather made those delays worse.

The worst of the troubles were centered at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, which is American Airlines’s largest hub and is one of the country’s busiest airports.

The travel problems began on Tuesday morning when systems that are needed to release flights malfunctioned because of what American said in a statement was a vendor technology issue. Then came the weather: A system of storms that prompted a flood warning moved into the Dallas area and hundreds of flights were delayed even after the technical issue was resolved about an hour later.

By Tuesday night, only 15 percent of flights at Dallas Fort Worth had departed on time, according to Cirium, an aviation data company. And earlier, the airline also requested that a ground stop for flights headed to the airport be extended until 8:30 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The thunderstorms caused average departure delays of more than two hours at Dallas Fort Worth, according to FlightAware, an aviation tracker. For many, the wait was even longer.

“The 7-hour — and counting — adventure of rescheduled and delayed flights has resulted in me spending more of Christmas Eve at the D.F.W. Pizza Hut Bar than with my wife, waiting for me in Tucson,” said Desmond Zantua, 35, of Queens, who had a layover in Dallas.