Wednesday afternoon President Trump ordered Boeing 737 MAX 8, MAX 9 aircraft grounded across the country.
American Airlines says the grounding of the Boeing Max 8 planes affects 24 of its more than 1,500 aircraft. American added it operates 85 flights per day on the MAX 8, out of 6,700 departures throughout the American Airlines system.
The head of the flight attendants union applauded the move.
"Safety is in our DNA," said Lori Bassani, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. "For us, if there's one minuscule -- one little piece that might be unsafe with that aircraft, we want to make sure our flight attendants, our crew and our passengers are definitely not in any kind of harm's way."
The Allied Pilots Association, which said on Monday night it had full confidence in the Max 8 planes, issued a new statement saying it understood the reason for grounding the plane.
It's still unknown exactly how many flights out of DFW could be impacted by the grounding of the Max planes at other airports.
"It seemed like a good time to do that, we were the last country to come around and I think it's probably the right thing to do," said passenger Dan Smith.
Before checking in at the airport, Smith confirmed his flight to Sydney, Australia was not on a Max 8 aircraft.
"I'm always curious as to what plane I’m going to be on and it’s just nice to know that I didn’t have to worry about that," Smith said.
American Airlines says it first began flying Max 8's in November of 2017. The airline says it is complying with the FAA's order and is rebooking impacted passengers as soon as possible.
American Airlines issued the following statement.
“We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause some of our customers. Our team will work with all customers impacted by these flight cancellations in order to rebook them to their final destination. Affected customers may rebook themselves on aa.com by retrieving their reservation or using our mobile app. If a flight is canceled, customers may request a full refund by visiting our website. Customers who booked through a travel agent are requested to contact their agency directly.”
