UP-IN-THE-AIR: Today is not a good day for American Airlines–all flights grounded.
0This story is still developing and ongoing as I write this, but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded all American Airlines flights, citing computer problems that have taken their reservation system down.
American Airlines has been having computer issues for some time now. Even though American Airlines is offering flight change fee waivers (or provide refunds), this really is an awful situation to be in for anyone flying American Airlines today. Hopefully this will get resolved soon.
More sources for developments and future updates feel free to follow TechCrunch or Los Angeles Times‘s updates on the story. Also follow American Air’s official twitter account @AmericanAir for latest updates.
(Featured image photo by Irfan Khan of the Los Angeles Times)
UPDATE 4/16/13 at 2:52 PM Pacific: American Airlines has restored their reservation systems. Here is the official message from their social media team:
UPDATE as of 3:30pm CDT: Our systems have been fully restored, however we expect continued flight delays and cancellations throughout the remainder of the day. We have made several options available to our customers:
If customers must travel today and are already at the airport, they can rebook on another airline by visiting an American Airlines agent or by going to the other airline’s ticket counter with their electronic ticket number.
If customers must travel today and are not yet at the airport, they can rebook through American Airlines reservations or through another carrier and American will honor the fare difference.
If a customer chooses not to travel today, there will be no charge for reservation changes or a full refund will be provided.
It is important to note we see no evidence that today’s technical outage is related to the tragic events in Boston.
We will continue to provide more information throughout the day as we make progress in resolving this issue. We apologize to our customers and our people for this inconvenience.