After being forced to ground flights for much of the day after a technical problem with its reservation system,
The company said in the statement at 3:30 CDT that if passengers were already at the airport and had to travel Tuesday, they could rebook with another airline. If they had not yet arrived, they could rebook though American Airlines' reservation system or through another carrier, and the company would honor the difference.
The airline also said it would not charge for reservation changes, and would offer full refunds to anyone who chose not to fly today.
"It is important to note we see no evidence that today’s technical outage is related to the tragic events in Boston," the statement said.
The American Airlines reservation system, which operates more than 3,000 flights daily, suffered a complete outage earlier today. Here is the company's statement.
The Associated Press noted that American had canceled at least seven flights and was experiencing delays on more than 50 others.
FlightAware CEO Daniel Baker told CNBC that more than 100,000 people could be affected.
"At 1 pm they basically stopped dispatching new flights, stopped boarding new flights, stopped allowing people to check in," he said.
#BREAKING: @americanair reservation system experiencing outages. @angiecrouch just snapped this pic at #LAX. twitter.com/NBCLA/status/3…
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) April 16, 2013
Here's what American has to say:
— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) April 16, 2013
UPDATE: We’re currently unable to modify today’s reservations. However, when able, we’ll offer refunds or update travel at no charge.
— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) April 16, 2013
As of 4: 02 EST, @AmericanAir is still (politely) telling people they have a system-wide outage.
@trollercoasting We are experiencing a system outage at this time, Rusty. We appreciate your patience as we resolve the problem.
— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) April 16, 2013
Some people are stuck on planes while others wait in the airport:
— David McGee (@davemc9ee) April 16, 2013
— Sagar Bhakta (@SagarBhakta) April 16, 2013