Christmas Eve got off to a rough start for American Airlines as a “technical issue” temporarily grounded all flights for the airline.

According to the New York Post, the airline alerted passengers around 6:30 a.m. it was “experiencing a technical issue with all American flights.”

The airline later cited a “vendor technology issue.”

BREAKING: AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUNDS ALL FLIGHTS NATIONWIDE DUE TO NATIONWIDE TECHNICAL ISSUES… pic.twitter.com/8tM9pAkhhc

— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) December 24, 2024

WATCH:

The American Airlines ground stop on Christmas Eve is no accident. Hope everyone still makes it home.

Hopefully Trump can put some competence back in charge so our transportation system can be safe again! pic.twitter.com/S7bzIdl1gY

— The doppelgängers 🇺🇸 (@Marcie2316) December 24, 2024

From the New York Post:

Just before 8 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration announced that the ground stop had been lifted.

“That issue has been resolved and flights have resumed. We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning,” American Airlines said. “It’s all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible.”

It was not immediately clear how many travelers were impacted. But at one point, FlightAware’s misery map showed more than 700 flights delayed across the US, with Charlotte Douglas, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami and Washington National airports — all major hubs — the hardest hit.

One video showed an agent at Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida holding passengers at the gate while telling them “our system is down.”

Travelers were also left stranded at LaGuardia Airport early Tuesday as the entire American Airline fleet appeared to remain stagnant with snow piling up on top of the planes around 9 a.m.

“We have resolved a vendor technology issue that briefly affected flights this morning. We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and have issued a travel alert to allow for additional flexibility,” the airline stated.

We have resolved a vendor technology issue that briefly affected flights this morning. We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and have issued a travel alert to allow for additional flexibility. https://t.co/lAp094H8cx

— americanair (@AmericanAir) December 24, 2024

Per ABC News:

In a statement sent to ABC News, the airline added, “Our teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”

The disruption will be unwelcome for a record number of Americans expected to travel across this holiday season. The Transportation Security Administration said it expects to screen nearly 40 million travelers from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2 — a 6.2% increase from 2023.

American Airlines said it was expecting Dec. 27 and Dec. 20 to be its busiest and second-busiest days, respectively, during its holiday period, which began on Dec. 18.