American Airlines ‘technical difficulties’ impacts several airports, website

American Airlines is experiencing serious technical difficulties today that impact “several airports,” according to the airline’s Twitter feed.

“We’re working to resolve technical issues impacting several airports as quickly as possible,” the firm wrote.

Internet users are complaining the airlines website isn’t working properly, either.

“We’re working to resolve technical issues and apologize for the inconvenience,” the firm is replying, repeated, to consumers who complain on Twitter.

The firm’s Twitter feed is a long stream of apologies beginning at about 1 p.m. ET.

American Airlines is currently merging with US Airways; such mergers often involve complex systems integrations.

It’s likely unrelated, but many consumers are also reporting that they’ve received a scam email that appears to come from American Airlines but is instead designed to trick users into clicking on a bogus link and surrendering personal information to computer criminals.  The airline posted a warning about the “phishing” emails on Sept. 10. 

A reader shared one such email with me. It reads like this:

“Your payment has been successfully processed and charged from your credit card.  Please print your e-ticket attached to this email,” it says. “Order summary:

FLIGHT NUMBER / OA483329
DATE & TIME / Sep 21 2015, 10:20
DEPARTING / Cleveland
TOTAL PRICE / $ 350.00

It’s believable for two reasons: First, airlines and other travel sites often send these kinds of confirmation emails. And second, consumers who are scared that they’ve already been scammed might be inclined to click and dispute the charge.

Travel scams are making the rounds. Expedia issued a warning recently, too, which I covered here.

Simply ignore any email like this; if you are really worried, call the airline or travel service to confirm.