It’s the mistake that stole Christmas.

American Airlines threw holiday travel into chaos on Christmas Eve after temporarily suspending all flights due to technical problems.

The airline warned travelers shortly after 6:30 a.m. that “all American flights are experiencing a technical issue,” without elaborating. American later blamed the problem on an “issue with the provider’s technology.”

It was not immediately clear how many travelers were affected. But at one point, FlightAware’s misery map showed more than 700 delayed flights across the U.S., with Charlotte Douglas, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami and Washington National airports – all major hubs – the hardest hit.

A video showed an agent at Fort Lauderdale Airport in Florida holding passengers at the gate and telling them, “Our system is down.”

Travelers were also stranded at LaGuardia Airport early Tuesday as American Airline’s entire fleet appeared to remain idle and snow piled up on aircraft carriers around 9 a.m

Jackie Winter, a retired NYPD officer and current school teacher on Long Island, expressed concern that her flight to Sarasota, Florida, would be one of those that would not reach its destination on time.

“Look, their planes aren’t even de-icing yet and Continental is flying around them, heading for the runways! There are no American Airlines flights taking off at all! Punctual? I bet!” said Winter.

About 40 minutes later, the company began de-icing the plane, videos showed.

The technical issue couldn’t have come at a worse time, with about 40 million passengers expected to travel through an airport over the holidays through Jan. 2, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

The airline offers thousands of flights daily to over 350 destinations in over 60 countries.

With post wires.