American Airlines Grounds All US Flights the Morning of Christmas Eve

Like a scene from a Hallmark Christmas movie, all American Airlines flights in the United States have been grounded this morning. Grinding much of the Christmas travel across the country to a halt.

The stoppages are being blamed on "technical issues", with no timetable for when they will be resolved. But if you've ever traveled with airlines, you will know this disruption will have ripple effect across the remainder of the holiday travel season.

Even one flight being delayed in one city can cause issues down the line for multiple other flights. So imagine what it will look like for one airline to completely stop for a period of time during one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Here's a reminder of what air traffic in the US looked like during an IT outage this summer. This is a timelapse of US flight traffic:

American Airlines could have this fixed already, but with people taking flights using multiple airlines, flying into smaller airports, or taking extended flights today...this won't end when they "fix the glitch". Due to the way the US airline system is built, the damage has already been done.