American Airlines tech glitch triggers nationwide delays

Published on Sep 24, 2025, 2:31 pm CDT

5 min read

American Airlines said a technical issue affecting its maintenance applications slowed departures on September 24, leading to hundreds of delays centered at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and ripple effects across its network. By early afternoon, nearly 1,000 American flights were delayed, with some cancellations also appearing in tracking data. The airline said teams used alternative procedures while troubleshooting, and that operations continued, albeit slower than normal. A separate, overnight United Airlines connectivity failure prompted a brief FAA ground stop before being lifted, adding context to a rough 24 hours for U.S. carriers.

Key Points

Why it matters: A maintenance-system glitch at the largest DFW carrier caused broad departure delays and missed connections.
Travel impact: Nearly 1,000 American flights delayed by early afternoon, with additional cancellations reported in tracking data.
What's next: American said it is troubleshooting and using backup procedures to keep flights moving.
United's separate overnight connectivity issue briefly grounded departures systemwide before normal operations resumed.
The Dallas area also saw major disruptions on September 19 after a local telecom outage forced ground stops.

Snapshot

American Airlines reported a "technical issue" impacting some maintenance applications on September 24, slowing the process of closing out flights and pushing many departures behind schedule. At the carrier's Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) hub, delays mounted and spread across the network. By about 1:30 p.m. Central, FlightAware data cited by local media showed 996 American delays and 63 cancellations nationwide. American said no flights were canceled due to the maintenance-app glitch at the time of its statement, but acknowledged that backup procedures were causing slower departures. The disruption followed an overnight United Airlines connectivity problem that triggered a short FAA ground stop before being lifted.

Background

The Dallas-Fort Worth region has been in the aviation spotlight since September 19, when two cut fiber-optic lines prompted a loss of radar and communications at a local air traffic control facility, forcing multihour ground stops at both Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Dallas Love Field. That earlier incident led to extensive cancellations and delays, particularly for American Airlines given its DFW hub. While Wednesday's maintenance-system problem was an airline IT issue rather than an FAA facility failure, the back-to-back episodes underscore how fragile aviation operations can be when either telecom or airline tech falters. Travelers should expect residual delays as crews, aircraft, and gates reposition.

Latest Developments

Maintenance-app glitch slows departures at DFW hub

American confirmed that "a technical issue impacting some of our maintenance applications" required teams to use alternative procedures to close out flights, resulting in delayed departures. The carrier initially said no flights were canceled because of the glitch, while flight-tracking tallies later showed significant delays and some cancellations across the system, including at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). As of early afternoon, local reporting cited 996 delays and 63 cancellations for American. The airline apologized to customers while it worked to restore normal processing.

United's overnight halt adds pressure to morning schedules

Just hours earlier, United Airlines requested a nationwide FAA ground stop after a brief connectivity failure, halting departures in the U.S. and Canada before operations resumed within about an hour. While unrelated to American's maintenance issue, the timing compounded morning congestion as airports and air traffic control absorbed schedule changes from multiple carriers.

What travelers can do now

Monitor your flight in the airline app, enable push alerts, and stay close to the gate when a delay is posted. Same-day rebooking options may appear in the app when a connection is at risk. For systemwide context on airport programs and delays, see our FAA Daily Air Traffic Report: September 24, 2025.

Analysis

Airline IT disruptions rarely produce a full stop to operations, but they can quietly throttle throughput by slowing key workflows like maintenance sign-offs, flight release, and crew scheduling. That appears to be what American faced, especially at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), where even small slowdowns cascade quickly because of high banked-hub volumes. The reported use of alternative procedures suggests the primary maintenance applications could not reliably feed required data to flight crews and operations control, so processes shifted to manual or secondary tools. In practical terms, every turn takes longer, gates stay occupied, and the wave backs up. The proximity to last week's Dallas telecom outage also matters, since recovery buffers are thin when back-to-back shocks hit the same region. While United's overnight ground stop was brief, it added noise to Wednesday's morning push. Expect knock-on effects into the evening while aircraft and crews re-sync.

Final Thoughts

For travelers booked on American today, the story is delay management, not a formal airline-specific ground stop. Build in extra time at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), watch your connection windows, and use self-service rebooking tools when options appear. American says it is troubleshooting and leaning on backup procedures, which should ease bottlenecks as systems stabilize. If you need a systemwide view of programs and hotspots, check our daily FAA brief linked above. With IT issues, recovery often lags the fix by several hours, so patience and proactive monitoring are key during this American Airlines tech glitch.