FAA grounds all American Airlines flights due to computer crash

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Dallas News

The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday grounded all American Airlines flights after the carrier's reservations system went offline.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/business/20130416-faa-grounds-all-american-airlines-flights-due-to-computer-crash.ece

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Just breaking elsewhere.

FAA grounds all American Airlines' flights following carrier's computer outage.
http://inagist.com/all/324229099893706753/

[Blue_Tires]

1. more info:

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5739812/

[SheilaT]

2. Ugh.

I'm a former airline employee and I know what's this like, although back when I worked a crash of the reservations system didn't ground us, so I'm a bit puzzled by this.

One year, about a month before Thanksgiving, our system lost every single reservation that had been made for the week before and after Thanksgiving. They had to reconstruct the records, but couldn't get all of them, so it was an exceptionally bad holiday for us at the airport.

[spiderpig]

3. Another former airline employee here

Agree - something in the milk ain't right.

[JBoy]

7. Maybe DHS won't let them fly because they won't know who's on board?

[RKP5637]

4. Years ago I used to work on the reservation systems ... this shouldn't take down ground operations,

of course, now it's a lot more complicated than way back then. Way back, they used to go to manual operations ... and the lines were huge.

[Redford]

5. exactly

wonder what the real reason is

[Downwinder]

6. Does weight an balance and flight planning

go through Sabre now?

[FarCenter]

8. All American Airlines flights grounded nationwide till at least 4 p.m. CDT

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/20130416-all-american-airlines-flights-grounded-till-4-p.m.-due-to-computer-crash.ece

Widespread groundings, delays, cancellations and such raise the question about whether American Airlines will run afoul of consumer protection rules adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation to keep airlines from leaving passengers on airplanes forever.

The DOT adopted regulations several years ago that said passengers on domestic flights had to be allowed the opportunity to get off the airplane after they’ve been held on a grounded airplane for three hours. They also have been offered some food or water after a certain time.

The potential penalty for violations is $27,000 per passenger. The DOT hasn’t levied such a fine yet, but the possibility exists.

If it was really a reservations system problem, American faces some penalties. If it wasn't, they won't.

[KoKo]

9. It's just been extended to 7p.m. According to link in the OP...

[DFW]

10. Just what I needed to hear.

I'm taking an American domestic flight tomorrow morning. Or, that is, I was planning to.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. Sad when Jet Blue sounds more reliable.

[DFW]

13. Nothing I can do now

I booked this whole itinerary months ago from Germany. Now I'm stuck. I NEVER take American intercontinental unless I get a bait and switch, and British Airways books the flight on a code share (I never get to see the flight number, or I would recognize the code share from the high number) and sets us in an American plane.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. I'm surprised after 9/11 that the United States didn't come up with a National Airline....

Oh wait,...Republicans are anti-Fed so a government run airline would have been called "commie".

[KoKo]

19. Reminds me of

Hubby stuck in Dusseldorf and his flight was screwed up..and he had to get back for meeting...and he called me "emergency" I'm stuck..cell phone running down...find me SOMETHING! Just enough power to get back to him...Flight Info & Confirmed!

Had to pay First Class BA out of Heathrow to AA Connection back to NC. He was a happy camper...our bank account took a hit...I can't remember how he got from Dusseldorf to Heathrow.. I think it was "speed train" or something. Might have been some local German plane. Whatever...he was desperate!

Traveling is a challenge sometimes..these days.

[DFW]

20. Depending on how recently this was

From Düsseldorf, where I now live, to London can easily be done by train. There is an early morning Thalys that goes to Brussels without changing, and many more possibilities from Düsseldorf to Brussels if you change in Köln, which is a 25 minute train ride. From Brussels there is a Eurostar (the Channel Tunnel train) to London almost every hour.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Maybe selling off the SABRE system wasn't such a great idea.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. Did they buy their new one from Diebold?

[VA_Jill]

16. Probably

a Windoze program, created around 1994.

[csziggy]

17. Or maybe they updated to Windows 8?

My memory of Windows 3.1 was that it was much easier to run than what I've seen of Windows 8.

[VA_Jill]

21. The last I ran

was XP. Then I became a Mac girl!

[csziggy]

22. I'm running Win 7 and it's fine

Not going Mac or any Apple product ever. Long history of why I will not support their business model - too long to go into here.

[SoapBox]

18. LOL...and the UseLess Air merger hasn't even happened yet!