JetBlue flights to resume nationwide after airline's request for ground stop

JetBlue flights to resume nationwide after airline's request for grounding The FAA issued a grounding for all JetBlue flights early Tuesday morning after the airline requested a nationwide suspension, believed to be due to IT failures at the airline. JetBlue scrambled to fix technical problems and avoid cascading delays at U.S. airports. Passengers were urged to check the flight status as the disruption unfolded. The suspension was lifted after about an hour and flights were expected to resume as normal on Tuesday morning. "A brief system outage has been resolved and we have resumed operations," the airline said in a statement. A user on JetBlue's Facebook page claimed the outage was due to IT issues that "rendered planes unable to communicate with maintenance staff if there was a problem during the flight." An air traffic controller at the Salt Lake City airport could also be heard telling a pilot that his flight was delayed due to "company IT issues." A ground stop is an air traffic control order that temporarily stops departures, usually issued for operational, weather or safety emergencies. The disruption adds to growing travel chaos across the country, with TSA lines stretching up to four hours in recent days as officials blamed the Department of Homeland Security's government shutdown for staffing shortages. Travelers faced marathon waits over the weekend in Atlanta, Charlotte, New Orleans and Houston as spring break travel began, with delays extending into Monday at some airports, including Chicago. The FAA issued a grounding for all JetBlue flights early Tuesday morning. Thousands of passengers could be seen waiting in line to get through security in New Orleans over the weekend. It was a similar story in Houston, with hundreds of airline passengers waiting in long lines to get through TSA security at Hobby Airport. Democrats refused to include DHS in a recent spending bill due in part to alleged mismanagement by recently ousted Secretary Kristi Noem. The partial shutdown has left about 50,000 TSA screeners working without pay, increasing no-shows and creating massive lines at airports across the country. The White House's Quick Response X account shared a news package that read: 'Democrats must end this purely political shutdown NOW!' This followed a DHS statement conveying the same message, blaming Democrats. They said: "Americans across the country are now feeling the consequences of the reckless Democrat shutdown of DHS." He continued: 'Travelers are facing TSA queues NEARLY 3 HOURS long at some major airports, resulting in missed flights and massive delays during peak times. 'This chaos is a direct result of Democrats and their refusal to fund DHS. Their political stunt is forcing patriotic TSA agents to work without pay, leading to financial hardship, absences, and crippling staffing shortages. 'Enough is enough: stop holding national security and ordinary Americans hostage. Democrats must fund DHS NOW.' Both publications said TSA officers were working without pay and linked staffing shortages to missed flights and long security lines. Passengers are seen waiting in huge security lines over the weekend at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana. Delays have only gotten worse during peak travel periods, with long lines snaking through terminals and into parking lots, like here at Houston's William P. Hobby Airport. At Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, the security line was so long it stretched to a parking lot outside. On Sunday in Houston, a passenger told ABC13, "We got here at 10 a.m., my flight was at 1:50 and we're not going to get there until that." At Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, the security line was so long