American Airlines Resumes Flights After a Computer Problem
American Airlines
was forced to ground all of its flights for several hours on Tuesday
after a nationwide problem with its computer systems. By late afternoon,
its computers were back up and its operation were slowly coming back to
life.
More than 400 flights were canceled and scores more were delayed after a
systemwide problem that started around midday and lasted until around
4:30 p.m. Eastern time. Still, the airline said it expected
cancellations and delays to last through the rest of Tuesday as it tried
to restore a normal schedule.
American said the problem was caused by an inability to gain access to
its reservations system, called Sabre. The electronic system, often
described as the brains of an airline, is responsible for bookings and
reservations, but also manages a wide variety of functions related to
flights, including printing boarding passes, online check-ins,
ticketing, and tracking bags.
While the cause of the problem was not immediately clear, the airline
emphasized that the flaw was not related to the bomb attacks in Boston
on Monday. Safety officials at airports around the country were on high
alert Tuesday. A suspicious package at La Guardia Airport in Queens, for
instance, caused the main terminal to be evacuated briefly, causing an
hourlong delay on some flights, officials said.
Sabre said American’s system problem did not come from its computer
systems. Other airlines, including Southwest Airlines and JetBlue, use
the reservation system and have not experienced any problems, said Nancy
St. Pierre, a spokeswoman for Sabre.
Such nationwide breakdowns are rare but not unprecedented, particularly
when airlines merge. United Airlines experienced similar problems last
year when its reservation systems failed repeatedly as it merged them
with those of Continental Airlines.
But while American Airlines, which is still reorganizing in bankruptcy,
has agreed to merge with US Airways, the two airlines are nowhere close
to integrating their systems because the planned merger still needs to
clear regulatory hurdles.
American said that its network system had experienced “intermittent
problems,” which led it to ground the fleet. The airline said it would
waive fees for passengers who wanted to change their reservation on
Tuesday and give refunds to those people who wished to cancel their
flight.
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, thousands of passengers were
stranded and waiting for flights, some of which were being canceled.
Some passengers described being stuck for long stretches on planes on
the runway unable to take off or, having landed, initially unable to
move to a gate.
Gate agents at Dallas were as uninformed as the passengers were, reduced to getting information from the airline’s Facebook page. “My best guess is y’all’s best guess,” one agent said.
Kelly Bixler, 34, a project coordinator for an architectural firm, had
flown from Texarkana, Tex., to Dallas en route to Milwaukee on business
but after waiting hours for her connection decided to rent a car and
drive back to Texarkana. “There are so many people so upset,” she said.
“They just want to go home. This is crazy.”
Matt Wyglendowski, 42, a sales manager for Hitachi trying to fly to
Indianapolis, was angry that the airline was not more forthcoming about
the event. “It’s ridiculous when you know more about what’s going on
than the ticket people,” he said as he checked his smartphone. “I got
the update on Facebook 20 minutes before they notified people.”
Mr. Wyglendowski said he had planned to drive from Indianapolis to his
business meeting in Ann Arbor, Mich., to save money. “God knows when I’m
going to get to Ann Arbor now,” he said.
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