American Airlines' flights grounded by computer problems

American Airlines’ flights grounded by computer problems

American Airlines said it has grounded its domestic fleet of airplanes because of computer problems. The airline said planes will remain grounded until 2 p.m. PDT as it "works to resolve this issue."

By Hugo Martin

April 16, 2013 12 AM PT

<i>This post has been updated. See the note below for details.</i>

Computer problems have forced American Airlines, one of the nation’s largest air carriers, to keep hundreds of its flights from departing across the country.

The Fort Worth-based airline said it has been struggling with intermittent computer problems for a while. Because of the latest glitch, all American Airlines flights that are on the tarmac will remain there until at least 2 p.m. PDT.

[Updated, 12:45 p.m. PDT April 16: American Airlines said it would waive the change fees for passengers whose flights were delayed and who wanted to book another flight.]

The airline, the second-largest carrier at Los Angeles International Airport, issued the following statement:

“American’s network system is experiencing intermittent outages. At this time, we are in a system-wide ground delay that will last until 4 p.m. [CDT] as we work to resolve this issue as quickly as we can. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience.”

American Airlines’ parent company, AMR Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011 and hopes to exit bankruptcy by merging with US Airways sometime in the next few months.

Three more hours on Tarmac??? MT @americanair: UPDATE: We are now in a system-wide ground delay until 4:00pm CT — Ed Brill (@edbrill) April 16, 2013

UPDATE: We are now in a system-wide ground delay until 4:00pm CT as we work to resolve this issue. We apologize for any inconvenience. — American Airlines (@AmericanAir) April 16, 2013

If you’re flying with American Airlines today, please contact them directly for updates and information about your flight. — LAX Airport (@LAX_Official) April 16, 2013