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.

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.