Alpine skiing-'Solid start' as Vonn returns to competitionWASHINGTON — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a national ground stop for the airline. The order, which prevented planes from taking off, was issued at the airline's request. The airline said in an email that the problem was caused by trouble with vendor technology that maintains its flight operating system. Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union representing American Airlines pilots, said the airline told pilots at 7 a.m. Eastern that there was an outage affecting the system known as FOS. It handles different types of airline operations, including dispatch, flight planning, passenger boarding, as well as an airplane's weight and balance data, he said. People are also reading... Muskogee board rejects Matt Hennesy's return as Roughers' head football coach OU linebacker Kobie McKinzie on fiancée Kinzie Hansen: 'She's the Alpha of my family' The 12 best new restaurants of 2024 Berry Tramel: Barry Switzer's 1980s players salute their lion-in-winter coach. 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Flights were delayed across American's major hubs, with only 37% leaving on time, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Out of the 3,901 domestic and international American Airlines flights scheduled for Tuesday, 19 were canceled. Cirium noted that the vast majority of flights departed within two hours of their scheduled departure time. A similar percentage — 36% — arrived at their destinations as scheduled. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking site FlightAware reported that 3,712 flights entering or leaving the U.S., or serving domestic destinations, were delayed Tuesday, with 55 flights canceled. It did not show any flights from American Airlines. Cirium said Dallas-Fort Worth, New York's Kennedy Airport and Charlotte, North Carolina, saw the greatest number of delays. Washington, Chicago and Miami experienced considerably fewer delays. Amid the travel problems, significant rain and snow were expected in the Pacific Northwest at least into Christmas Day. Showers and thunderstorms developed in the South. Freezing rain was reported in the Mid-Atlantic region near Baltimore and Washington, and snow fell in New York. Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. Any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have "interline agreements" that let them put stranded customers on another carrier's flights. This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers an automatic cash refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight. Most air travelers were already eligible for refunds, but they often had to request them. Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. Finding a last-minute flight on another airline tends to be expensive. An American spokesperson said Tuesday was not a peak travel day for the airline — with about 2,000 fewer flights than the busiest days — so the airline had somewhat of a buffer to manage the delays. The groundings happened as millions of travelers were expected to fly over the next 10 days. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers through Jan. 2. Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations more disruptive than during slower periods. Even with just a brief outage, the cancellations have a cascading effect that can take days to clear up. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. "Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday," AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was $3.04 a gallon, down from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state. Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation's highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic.PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown’s troubles connecting on the field have yet to blow into a family feud inside the locker room — honest, both Philadelphia Eagles stars said. Between Hurts and Brown, it’s all good in Philly. “Me and Jalen are good,” Brown said. Added Hurts, “We’re good, we’re good.” So there will be no sit-ups in the driveway, no apologies on the front lawn, and certainly, it seems, no rift between Hurts and his No. 1 receiver. Hurts and Brown each downplayed any hint of a fissure Wednesday between the two after defensive end Brandon Graham appeared this week on a Philadelphia sports radio station and suggested there was friction between the Pro Bowl duo. The two were close friends long before they became teammates and Hurts is the godfather for Brown’s daughter. Graham's comments — in which he noted “ things have changed ,” between the two, without offering specifics — exploded into tabloid and fan fodder this week in Philadelphia. His insinuations that the duo were not on the same page came on the heels of Brown's quote after a sluggish win over Carolina that the “ offense ” wasn’t playing up to standard, even with the Eagles at 11-2. “BG knows he spoke out of place,” Hurts said. Graham, who is sidelined with a triceps injury, clarified his comments later to an ESPN reporter, saying he made the wrong assumption about the relationship between Hurts and Brown and planned to apologize to both players. Brown, with 109 yards receiving combined the last two games, said his beef with the offense wasn't directed at Hurts. It was everything from offensive coordinator Kellen Moore's play calling to execution to all the ingredients in a successful offense that make a team a Super Bowl contender. The usually pass-happy Eagles have leaned more on running back Saquon Barkley, who set the franchise season rushing record of 1,623 yards against the Panthers and is chasing Eric Dickerson for the NFL mark. “Obviously, it's not about running the ball,” Brown told reporters. “He's about to win MVP. Clearly. What other things can we do on offense? We have to pass the ball. That can go into protection, that can go into picking up the block, that goes to us getting open quicker. Getting on the same page.” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said he never witnessed any issues between Hurts and Brown and only saw two players who worked hard together, even working on routes after practice and seemed to have a deep personal connection on and off the field. “You guys get to see three hours every Sunday where emotions can play as high as they’re going to play,” Sirianni said. “I get to see these guys every single day, how they go about their business and interact with each other.” Brown, who was coming off consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons, wasn't necessarily wrong in his frustration with the recent stagnation of the passing game. Hurts, who signed a contract extension ahead of the 2023 season that was worth $179.3 million guaranteed , has thrown for fewer than 200 yards in three straight games. Wide receiver DeVonta Smith — who also complained Sunday about the offense — was also coming off consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons but has yet to break 100 yards in a game this season. Brown has four 100-yard games, well off last season’s run when he topped 100 yards in six straight games and seven times overall. Hurts has been more efficient than explosive this season but has still thrown 12 touchdown passes to just one interception — and rushed for 11 more scores — during the Eagles' nine-game winning streak that has them on the brink of clinching the NFC East. Maybe playing the Steelers on Sunday at home can snap the Eagles out of their offensive malaise. Hurts threw three TD passes to Brown in a 35-13 win in 2022. “Do we all have things to get better at in the passing game? Yeah, I think that’s obvious,” Sirianni said. “I think that’s what we’ve been talking about. We all have things that we’ve got to get better at, coaches, players. But this is why this is the greatest team sport there is. It takes everybody. It takes every single person being together, every single person for the success to happen. It’s just not a one-person thing.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

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