American Airlines says it has fixed the computer glitch that forced its regional airline to cancel more than 2,000 flights (AAL)

AP

  • American Airlines said on Wednesday it had fixed the problem that led to thousands of flights with a regional carrier, PSA Airlines, being canceled since last Thursday. 
  • The airline blamed its "computer systems" for an error that wreaked havoc on its scheduling and tracking systems for crews and pilots. 
  • Customers were still not pleased, as many were forced to sleep at airports due to the canceled flights. 


Things returned to normal this week for American Airlines as it said in a statement on Wednesday that it had fixed a computer glitch that led to the cancellation of over 2,000 flights from one of its regional carriers.

"PSA Airlines stabilized its computer systems on Tuesday morning. Since then, team members have been working nonstop to reposition crews and aircraft so the airline can get back to a normal schedule," American Airlines spokesperson Katie Cody said in a statement to Business Insider on Wednesday. 

Cody added that PSA anticipates running approximately 70-80% of its schedule today and close to a normal operation on Thursday, June 20. 

The issue began last Thursday, June 14, as an unknown IT glitch caused the American Airlines subsidiary PSA Airlines to halt all flights to and from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. American terminals as far away as Chicago O'Hare, Philadelphia International, and Washington Reagan were affected by the glitch.  

When the problem could not initially be resolved, cancellations bled into Friday and Saturday, eventually leading to multiple ground-stops being issued in Charlotte on Sunday, with no end in sight as Monday concluded. By Tuesday morning, all PSA flights nationwide had been canceled.

Many fliers were inconvenienced by the multiple days of canceled air travel. According to officials at Charlotte-Douglas International, between 200 and 1,000 fliers needed to stay overnight at the airport each night of the incident.   

On Tuesday morning, amid the full cancellation measure, American Airlines identified the source of the problem: PSA's crew scheduling and tracking system had malfunctioned, creating disruption to the proper assignations of pilot and flight crews.

Service teams identified this hardware issue as having originated at PSA's headquarters in Dayton, Ohio. According to the airline's statement to Business Insider, a total of 2,750 fights were canceled since the issue began last Thursday. 

As could be expected, customer frustration exploded on Twitter:

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1008886286403416065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Thank you @AmericanAir for leaving us stranded in Charlotte for 28 hours and telling us you have no rental car, hotel or bus options. Great way to end a honeymoon, IMO.

Saint Lucia’s airport was like seven dudes and a drone, and it was infinitely more professional than this.Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1007434797436850176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
You need to ditch PSA airlines ... They suck and you know it.Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1009174188681256960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
the best is when @AmericanAir cancels your flight not once but FOUR times! :):

 

The airline released a statement on Tuesday, apologizing for the computer error: "We understand that these cancellations have been frustrating for our consumers, and teams from PSA and American have been working around the clock to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. We are rebooking passengers and American's Customer Relations department continues to reach out to all affected customers."

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