American Airlines outage as plane passengers stranded at airports and on runways

Passengers face travel chaos as American Airlines has been hit by a widespread outage leaving thousands waiting at airports.

Many people in theUnited States have said they have been stuck on the runway or crammed in waiting areas. Some travellers have shared their anger on social media, saying they have been sitting at the gate for more than one hour. American Airlines flights are being impacted by the company's maintenance system "being down".

Some stranded passengers have complained online that American Airlines has not made an official announcement about the status of flight delays. Downdetector, a site that monitors online outage, states that "user reports indicate problems at American Airlines". A peak of 324 reports was reached at 5.34pm BST.

READ MORE: M5 traffic LIVE: Major motorway at standstill after horror caravan crash

READ MORE: Mylo Capilla: Tragedy as police searching for missing boy, 13, find body in water

A live outage map shows major cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, New York and Phoenix, are all in the red, indicating that there have been a lot of reports of problems.

Of the reports, 41% are saying there is a problem with the website, 38% have said there are delays and 18% have told of having issues with logging on.

One person wrote on Reddit: "Sitting at the airport, they are saying AA flights everywhere are impacted by maintenance system being down. Anyone know anything???"

The incident appears to be impacting people from across the US. Another social media user replied: "That's the story we're getting on the tarmac in Fort Myers. Pilot says can't get a flight plan, can't get a fuel report, can't get a passenger manifest because their system is down. Systemwide outage." A third claimed: "In Charlotte parked at gate...waiting on system to come back up."

Another passenger on a plane from Dallas to Cancun in Mexico, Derick Bores, wrote on X: "On a flight from DFW to CUN and we can’t take off because your pilot can’t sign the maintenance form due to his computer not working.

"He said he’s sending his wife to Walmart to get a new one and laughed. How professional is this? Been sitting at the gate for 45mins and your pilot has jokes. Is @AmericanAir the next Boeing?"

And in a following message he wrote: "Updated: still sitting here… Pilot just said he’s considering deplaning because we’ve been sitting here so long… He said many planes are now getting out with a manual signature of the maintenance form but isn’t sure how long they will take…"

The American Airlines X account replied: "We know you're ready to be off to your sunny destination. As soon as we have the final sign-off complete, we'll head for the skies! Thank you for packing your patience today."