A computer glitch forced American Airlines to cancel hundreds of flights and customers are furious
- Hundreds of PSA flights have been canceled to and from the Charlotte-Douglass International Airport since last Thursday.
- The problem has continued into Tuesday of this week and American Airlines said a technical glitch is to blame.
- Some travelers are not happy as the cancellations have disrupted both weekend travel and business travel during the work week.
American Airlines is reeling from the fallout after a computer glitch within their PSA regional carrier forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Monday and Tuesday out of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
This problem has plagued American Airlines since last week, as more than 600 flights were canceled between Thursday and Friday as well.
The company said in a statement Tuesday that while it has stabilized its computer systems, it will take time to get back to normal operations.
"The regional carrier which operates 12 percent of America's 6,700 daily flights, canceled all flights the morning of Tuesday, June 19th, as it works though schedules, getting aircraft and crews where they need to be to resume operations. PSA will operate a reduced schedule over the next few days as it restores full service," American Airlines said in a statement to Business Insider.
"We understand that these cancellations have been frustrating for our customers, and teams from PSA and American have been working around the clock to get things back to normal as quickly as possible," the company said.
PSA Airlines, a separate American Airlines subsidiary which flies smaller planes under the American Eagle brand, has experienced problems as of late. On Thursday and Friday, over 675 flights were canceled because of "a technical issue." An additional 50 flights were canceled on Saturday and a ground-stop was issued until 3 p.m. on Sunday at the Charlotte airport.
These cancellations were particularly disruptive because Charlotte-Douglas International Airport is American Airlines' second busiest airport, with more than 120,000 passengers cycling through on a given day. PSA flights to and from Philadelphia and Washington Reagan have also experienced delays or cancellations.
"It started on Thursday and they thought they had it fixed and it's kinda slowly still becoming an issue," American spokeswoman Katie Cody told Bloomberg.com on Monday. According to Cody, the issue seemed to be technical, involving hardware for scheduling and tracking pilots and flight attendants.
PSA, which was founded in 1995 as a smaller offshoot of American Airlines' main operations, flies a fleet of Bombardier Jets seating 50 to 79 passengers per plane. Based out of Charlotte, the fleet travels throughout the Midwest and East Coast.
Some of the flyers affected by the cancellations have taken to Twitter to vent their frustrations.