Delays finally ebb at CLT as American Airlines apologizes for Christmas Eve problems
Flight delays persisted Tuesday morning at Charlotte’s airport after a “vendor technical issue” forced American Airlines into an hour-long nationwide ground stop on one of the year’s busiest holiday travel days.
The ground stop was lifted by the FAA around 8:10 a.m. Shortly before 9 a.m., the airline apologized, saying, “We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning... Our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible.”
By late afternoon, around 4 p.m., Flightaware.com was not reporting delays for either arrivals or departures at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. That was not the case in the morning and early afternoon, when the delays were causing additional problems for Christmas Eve travelers.
The airline did not say what the technical issue was, but said it impacted systems needed to release flights. American urged passengers to use their mobile app or check aa.com for the latest flight information.
American accounts for nearly 90% of the flights at CLT.
Charlotte Douglas posted on X at 8:22 a.m. that it expects “residual delays” now that American Airlines’ system is back up. “We apologize to our passengers for the inconvenience and wish everyone safe and happy travels,” the airport said.
Travel alert issued for American Airlines
Mid-morning Tuesday, American Airlines issued a travel alert for a dozen airports impacted by the delays, including Charlotte Douglas.
That means travelers may be able to change their plans with no change fees. Those fees are waived for those 12 airports, the airline said, for these reasons: traveling on an American Airlines flight; bought a ticket by Dec. 23; scheduled to travel Dec. 24; can travel between Dec. 24-26; don’t change the origin or destination city; cancel your trip and request a refund.
Changes must be booked by Dec. 24.
The other destination airports are: Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago O’Hare; Dallas-Fort Worth; Los Angeles; Miami; New York JFK; New York LaGuardia; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Washington Reagan.
About Charlotte Douglas airport travel
Charlotte airport officials said they were expecting close to 3 million passengers for the 17-day winter holiday period from Dec. 20 through Jan. 5.
That’s a 6% increase over last year. The airport also was expecting to handle 25,000 flights, an 8% increase from this time last year.
CLT is the seventh busiest airport in the world for arrivals and departures, according to Airports Council International. And it is one of American Airlines’ hubs.
Across the country, some passengers took to social media to voice their displeasure about the travel disruptions. Others tried to take a lighter approach, like the person who stated: “American Airlines passengers trying to find this guy in the airport for a ride…” then posted a gif of the John Candy character from “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” in the airport saying, “Polka, polka, polka.”
At CLT airport
With her bags by her side, Yvette Miller was listening to music while waiting for someone to pick her up at the Charlotte airport Tuesday morning.
She was glad to be off her plane, an American Airlines flight from Atlanta. She had been coming home from visiting a friend in Tuscon, Arizona, and was on the Atlanta runway when the pilot announced there was a systemwide glitch. It was supposed to be fixed shortly, but that didn’t happen.
”He just kept coming over the loud speaker and saying things were progressing,” Miller said. “Then he said we don’t have any answers yet.”
She and the rest of the passengers were stuck on the runway for over an hour. Miller was already exhausted from her overnight flight.
“I understand things happen,” Miller said. “But honestly when he said we have no idea what it is, it’s a systemwide glitch, I thought it was going to be a replay of what happened in the summer” when there was a nationwide glitch that forced Miller to catch a flight home the next day.
But things turned out better for her Tuesday.
““I was upset about that (latest delay) initially, but everything worked out in the end,” she said. “I’m glad to be home on Christmas Eve. I was planning some family activities later on today.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 8:14 AM.
