The Federal Aviation Administration briefly issued a nationwide ground stop for all American Airlines flights the morning of Christmas Eve, as the airline said a "technical issue" was affecting flights. The FAA said the ground stop was issued at the airline's request, on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

American Airlines threw holiday travel into chaos on Christmas Eve after temporarily grounding all flights over technical problems. Although the issues were resolved after a few hours, their impact was felt throughout the day at major airports across the country.