Storms cause Christmas Eve delays at DFW Airport
After a morning of technical issues, storms in North Texas caused continued delays at DFW Airport and Love Field. It’s not what travelers wanted to deal with on Christmas Eve.
DALLAS – The lingering effects of American Airlines’ technical issues on Tuesday morning, combined with storms in North Texas, are causing major travel headaches for people this Christmas Eve.
FlightAware.com shows inbound flights to DFW Airport are delayed by 3.5 hours, and inbound flights to Love Field are delayed by 1 hour because of the weather.
The Backstory: Just before 7 a.m. Eastern, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all American Airlines flights grounded in the U.S. at the airline’s request.
At the time, American Airlines said in a statement to FOX Television Stations that its teams were “working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
The ground stop only lasted an hour, but the weather didn’t help the airlines get back on track.
By the afternoon, inbound flights were delayed for several hours at DFW Airport and Love Field, which pushed some departures as well.
The FAA blamed the weather and staffing for Tuesday’s travel delays and cancellations.
What People Are Saying: Brian Kenney is heading to Illinois to see family. Before he got to DFW Airport, he learned about the ground stop.
“It’s supposed to leave two hours late,” he said of his flight. “They were already giving us options to cancel and get a refund before they told us it was delayed.”
Lori Mulkey had to wait several hours for her daughter to arrive at the airport. Her plane was supposed to land in Dallas at 9 a.m. but the weather diverted the flight from Colorado Springs to Amarillo.
“I’m waiting for my daughter who I haven’t seen in over a year,” she said.
While it’s not the Christmas Eve she had in mind, she’s happy about the reunion.
“It’s just put a damper on Christmas, literally and figuratively speaking,” Mulkey said. “She told me, ‘I’m sorry, mom, that you had to wait so long.’ I told her, ‘That’s okay, you’re worth it.’ I can’t wait to see her.”
Others that FOX 4 spoke to were doing their best to be to stay positive. After all, it is Christmas.
“Everybody’s on the problem and working towards fixing it. So just be patient and be in good spirits,” said Jordan Wright, who is flying to Oklahoma.
What’s Next: American Airlines didn’t elaborate on what caused the technical issue, only that it involved one of their vendors.
The airline encouraged all travelers to check their flight status on the American Airlines website.