Technology, storms delay hundreds of flights and their passengers on Christmas Eve
NORTH TEXAS – The storms that blew into North Texas on Christmas Eve challenged airline passengers coming to and leaving DFW International Airport. American Airlines delayed 1,065 flights system-wide on Tuesday. Nearly 800 of those were to and from DFW Airport, which is the airline's largest hub and home base.
The weather was not the only problem that air travelers faced on Christmas Eve.
Earlier in the morning, an American Airlines spokesperson said one of its vendors had a technology issue, which led to a nationwide ground stop. The spokesperson said the issue was corrected an hour later.
Debbie Schlier said she and her husband got a double whammy. Their morning flight to California was delayed by the technical glitch, and their next flight out was delayed by the storms.
"It just kept getting delayed. When we got closer to the hour, they were like 'delay again' and finally, it was canceled."
Alberto Cazares was supposed to be on that same canceled flight.
"They told us there's no flights to Fresno. All direct flights were canceled. We're trying to scramble around."
So he, Schiler, her husband and others, all of whom just met, decided to rent a van and make the 22-hour drive together. Schlier said, "We're going to take a road trip, sing some Christmas songs, Feliz Navidad all the way to Fresno."
Rhonda Holmes said she and her daughter Aliya arrived from Cleveland two hours late because of the technical glitch. They said the storms in North Texas almost diverted their flight to Kansas. Rhonda Holmes said, "We were over Wichita, Kansas and the pilots gets on the intercom and says 'it's a Christmas miracle, now we can go to Dallas.'" When asked if they felt as if the Grinch almost stole their Christmas, they pointed to one of Aliya's fingernails, which had a Grinch painted on it, and laughed.