"Where is John Candy when you need him?"- Memes erupt as internet reacts to American Airlines grounding flights on Christmas Eve

On Tuesday, December 24, 2024, American Airlines grounded all its flights in the United States, citing an unspecified technical glitch. The same was confirmed by the company through a notice published on the Federal Aviation Administration website. In a tweet shared by the company, it read:

"We're currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights. Your safety is our utmost priority, once this is rectified, we'll have you safely on your way to your destination."

An hour after this announcement, the company declared that the Federal Aviation Administration had lifted the ground stop and flights were beginning to board, as per reports by ABC News on December 24.

The brief ground stop attracted netizens' attention who shared a variety of reactions on social media platforms. Here are some popular responses found on X. A user even made references to John Candy, who played the character of Gus Polinski in the movie Home Alone.

For the unversed, Gus was the character who took Kevin's mother to Chicago as she traveled with his polka band, when the flights were shut down. The user wrote:

"Where is John Candy when you need him?"

Another user stated:

"It's Christmas Eve and all... flights are grounded. But worry not, Gus Polinski cares about you and has an extra spot for you... so you can still reach your destination."

"The videos that are going to come out of people flipping out and losing their patience due to American Airlines grounding all flights on Christmas Eve are going to be elite 😮‍💨," added another tweet.

Several other reactions were also shared on the same. Users seemingly criticized the airlines for this brief delay during the holiday season. A netizen tweeted:

"American Airlines is just full of jokes."

"American Airlines is the ghetto that people think Spirit is," read another tweet.

"American Airlines seeing a chance to ruin everyone’s Christmas," another user said.

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The American Airlines ground stop that was due to a vendor technical glitch reportedly lasted for one hour

According to a report by Bloomberg, published on December 24, a technical vendor glitch was the primary reason behind the grounding of the flights on Christmas Eve. On Tuesday, the company even issued a statement apologizing to the customers for causing such inconvenience.

Bloomberg further reported that the ground stop continued for an hour and the flights resumed after that. The statement by the company further wrote:

"All hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible."

The company told ABC News:

"Our teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience."

The company has not made any confirmations as to whether there would be any other delays due to the one-hour ground stop. The airline company is currently going through a busy time due to the Christmas holidays.

As per reports by ABC News, the company was expecting December 27 and December 20 to be the busiest and second busiest days during the holiday season, which began on December 18, 2024.