American Airlines' IT outage grounded every flight for 45 minutes last night, and it still has the most cancellations today

The 9 AM Wednesday update: American's nationwide IT ground stop hit at 6:29 PM ET Tuesday on top of the Northeast storm wall, lasting about 45 minutes but leaving 1,402 delays and 321 cancellations, American still leads worldwide cancellations Wednesday morning with 88 of 407 US total, the FAA has no active terminal ground stops right now, and the SPC dropped the Northeast from today's severe risk with SFO and Denver at PROBABLE this afternoon.

What happened: American Airlines' IT outage

The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all American Airlines flights at approximately 6:29 PM ET Tuesday, at American's own request, after a technology issue disrupted connectivity for some of the airline's systems. The ground stop was lifted at 7:18 PM ET, lasting about 45 minutes. It hit during the peak evening departure rush and on a night when severe thunderstorms were already triggering ground stops across New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington. CNN · Simple Flying

American confirmed the outage in a statement on X: "A technology issue briefly impacted connectivity for some of our systems on Tuesday evening. Systems are coming back online now and flights are departing again. We put a temporary ground stop in place while our teams worked to resolve the issue." The airline's mobile app, website, and customer service phone lines were all down during the disruption. The FAA's ATCSCC Advisory 234 said all flights operated by American and its regional carriers were being held because of an "IT outage." Airborne flights continued to their destinations. ABC7 NY · NBC DFW

After the nationwide stop was lifted, the FAA kept American-specific ground stops in place at Charlotte (CLT) and Miami (MIA). At Charlotte, where American accounts for about 90% of all flights, average departure delays reached 83 minutes by 8:30 PM ET. The Charlotte Observer reported the CLT ground stop was briefly lifted then re-imposed at 8:20 PM ET. Charlotte Observer · Airways Magazine

The timing was brutal. The outage struck at the peak of the evening push, and Flightradar24 recorded 130 fewer American aircraft in the air at 7 PM ET compared with the same moment the prior week. Simple Flying reported that every airport in American's network was affected. Footage from Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Philadelphia showed crowds of passengers waiting at gates with departure boards filling with delays.

The Tuesday toll, per FlightAware data cited by The Travel: American Airlines logged 1,402 delays (38% of its mainline schedule) and 321 cancellations. Republic Airways, which operates regional flights for American Eagle as well as Delta Connection and United Express, canceled 522 flights, 40% of its schedule. Endeavor Air canceled 285. United canceled 281 and delayed 1,187. JetBlue canceled 243. The total across all US airlines Tuesday was 2,538 cancellations. Not all of American's numbers can be attributed solely to the IT outage, though. The storms were already disrupting flights before the technology problem began, and separating the two causes would require American to publish attributable figures, which it had not done by Wednesday morning. Visa Verge

Wednesday morning: American still leads cancellations

The IT outage itself ended 14 hours ago, but the ripple effects are still rolling through the schedule. As of Wednesday morning, American Airlines has the most canceled flights of any airline worldwide, with 88, according to FlightAware data cited by The Travel. United has 85, and Republic has 62. The total US cancellation count Wednesday morning stands at 407, and that number is expected to increase throughout the day due to weather in the eastern US and carryover from the IT outage.

American has not identified which system failed, what caused the failure, or the exact duration of the nationwide stop. The carrier experienced a similar nationwide IT ground stop on December 24, 2024, which was traced to a network hardware issue at DXC Technology, the third-party vendor maintaining American's flight-operating systems. No evidence connects the July 2026 event to the 2024 incident.

The airspace right now: quiet, with afternoon risk building

The FAA's current operations plan (ADVZY 060, signed 4:32 AM ET Wednesday) shows no active terminal ground stops or ground delay programs anywhere in the country. Staffing triggers are clean. The 8 AM ET Northeast window (BOS, LGA, JFK, EWR, TEB) passed without firing, all listed as POSSIBLE-tier only. NAS Status

The Storm Prediction Center's Day 1 Convective Outlook for Wednesday has downgraded the Northeast from yesterday's severe risk. The SPC places only a Slight Risk over the Northern High Plains and southeast Georgia and Florida, with no Northeast risk area. This is a notable shift from Tuesday, when the Northeast was under an Enhanced Risk that produced the multi-wave storm wall.

The FAA is managing some en route measures: a Lake Erie West flow constraint (ADVZY 065) is active until 10 AM ET due to Nav Canada staffing concerns at Toronto Center, and coded departure routes are in effect for South Florida airports including MIA, FLL, TPA, and RSW through 3 PM ET due to thunderstorms (ADVZY 070).

The afternoon forecast from ADVZY 060:

SFO ground stop or delay program PROBABLE after 11 AM ET (procedural compliance, the chronic low-ceiling and construction issue)
MCO and TPA ground stop POSSIBLE after 11 AM ET
DCA ground stop or delay program POSSIBLE after noon ET (wind and unfavorable configuration, not thunderstorms)
ATL ground stop POSSIBLE after 2 PM ET
DEN ground stop or delay program PROBABLE after 3 PM ET

The FAA's next planning webinar was scheduled for 1115Z (7:15 AM ET). If it sharpens any of these windows from POSSIBLE to PROBABLE, or adds a staffing trigger, the afternoon picture could change.

The overnight storm wall: cleared

The midnight issue reported that the FAA had extended New York's ground stops to 11 PM and that Wednesday was at risk from 8 AM. All of those overnight programs have since cleared. Newark's ground delay program, which was averaging nearly 4 hours, ended. Philadelphia and Boston delay programs ended. The 8 AM Wednesday windows passed without firing, and the SPC has since dropped the Northeast from its severe risk areas for today.

Tuesday's total of 2,538 US cancellations includes both the weather-driven ground stops across the Northeast and the American IT outage. New York's three airports bore the brunt of the weather side: LaGuardia saw 456 cancellations, JFK 338, and Newark 255 by 4:30 PM ET Tuesday, per NY1. FlightAware

Rebooking and waivers

American Airlines issued a travel waiver for the IT outage covering flights scheduled for July 28, with rebooking available July 27 through 30. However, the waiver required changes to be booked by July 28, so the rebooking deadline has passed. If your American flight was canceled or significantly delayed Tuesday and you have not yet rebooked, American's customer service commitments under the DOT dashboard include rebooking at no additional cost and meal vouchers for waits of three hours or more. If you decline the alternative offered, you are entitled to a refund to your original form of payment. Check aa.com travel alerts for any updated waiver terms.

Delta's waiver covers New York and Mid-Atlantic airports for travel through July 29, with rebooking available. Delta extended the waiver to cover Wednesday after the storm wall persisted. Check Delta advisories directly.

JetBlue's waiver covers JFK, LGA, EWR, HPN, and Islip for travel July 27 through 29, with rebooking through August 1. Today is the last day of covered travel. Check JetBlue travel alerts.

United has a waiver covering the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Check United travel notices for current terms and deadlines.

Check your airline's travel alerts page directly before heading to the airport, particularly if you are flying American through Charlotte or Miami, where residual impacts from the IT outage are most likely to linger.