American Airlines technical issue sparks travel chaos on Christmas Eve as flights heavily delayed after being grounded

It’s the glitch that stole Christmas.

American Airlines threw holiday travel into chaos on Christmas Eve after temporarily grounding all flights over technical problems. 

The airline warned travelers just after 6:30 a.m. that it was “experiencing a technical issue with all American flights,” without elaborating. American later blamed a “vendor technology issue” for the problem.

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 nearly 900 flights delayed across the US, with Charlotte Douglas, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami and Washington National airports — all major American hubs — the hardest hit.

Florida flight delays

Miami International Airport reported more than 60 delayed flights, placing it third overall on the misery map as of noon Tuesday. 

Video posted online showed an agent at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood international airport holding passengers at the gate while telling them “our system is down.”  

The nearby airport fared a bit better than Miami, with 28 delays.

Dallas-Fort Worth flight delays

The country’s second-largest airport lived up to the Lone Star State’s “everything is bigger in Texas” boast by leading all US airports Christmas eve in delays — with more than 170 flights postponed, averaging an hour and 40 minutes each, according to FlightAware’s tracker. 

Charlotte Douglas flight delays

There was plenty of misery to go around at Charlotte Douglas International Airport — American’s main east coast hub — with as many as 76 flight delays reported, placing the major American Airlines hub a distant second to DFW.

New York area flight delays

Fliers in New York and New Jersey weren’t spared the lump of coal in their holiday travel stocking, either, with a combined 128 delays reported across area airports.

Travelers were 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. 

Jackie Winter, a retired NYPD officer and current Long Island school teacher, expressed concern that her flight to Sarasota, Florida, would be one of those failing to reach its destination on time.

“Look, their planes are not even being de-iced and Continental is flying around them and heading for the runways! No American Airlines flights are even taking off!” Winter said Tuesday morning.

“I’m writing to the CEO of American Airlines today! They should have told us!”

About 40 minutes later, the company began de-icing the aircraft, videos showed. 

It was luck of the draw for travelers departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, which reported more than 40 delays during the height of the ground stop.

Newark-Liberty International Airport had the dubious distinction of the most-delayed airport in the NYC area, at one point recording more than 60 delays, however it’s likely those numbers are slightly inflated due snowfall early Tuesday.

The technical issue couldn’t have hit at a worse time, as some 40 million passengers are expected to travel through an airport over the holidays until Jan. 2, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

The airline has thousands of flights each day to over 350 destinations in over 60 countries.

With Post wires.