Heavy travel day starts with brief grounding of all American Airlines flights [Video]

By Matt Ott And Haleluya Hadero The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive.

Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a national ground stop for the airline. The order, which prevented planes from taking off, was issued at the airline’s request after it experienced trouble with its flight operating system, or FOS. The airline blamed technology from one of its vendors.