American Airlines Grounded Nationwide for the Third Time in Two Years

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Practical preparedness for uncertain times

My parents live 800 miles away. During the 2021 ice storm, I couldn't reach them by phone for 14 hours. Cell towers were down in their area. My calls went to voicemail. My texts showed "not delivered." I knew intellectually that they were probably fine. Emotionally, those 14 hours were brutal. We now have a system that handles exactly this scenario. This week, I share it.

Here's what I've got this morning:

When Your Family Is Spread Across the Country

We covered household communication (Issue 99) and local community coordination (Issue 70). But many families are geographically dispersed: parents in one state, adult children in another, siblings across the country. A regional disruption that affects one family member may not affect the others, but the inability to confirm safety creates anxiety that compounds every other stress.

The out-of-area contact is the cornerstone. Designate one person who lives far from everyone else as the family relay point. During a regional event, local phone networks overload but long-distance calls often work. Everyone calls the one relay person instead of trying to reach each other directly. The relay confirms everyone's status and shares information. This works because it reduces the communication load from many-to-many to many-to-one.

A family Signal group (Issue 63) provides encrypted, cross-platform messaging that works on any data connection, including Wi-Fi. During the ice storm, my parents' cell service was down but their neighbor's Wi-Fi was working. A Signal message sent via Wi-Fi got through when calls and texts didn't.

Satellite communication bridges the gap when all terrestrial networks fail. The Garmin inReach Mini (Issue 31) sends texts via satellite from anywhere on Earth. For families with members in rural areas or disaster-prone regions, one satellite communicator in the family provides a guaranteed communication path. At $12/month for a basic plan, it's genuine insurance.

Pre-arranged check-in schedules reduce the need for real-time contact. "If you don't hear from me by 8 PM, I'm fine but can't communicate. If you don't hear from me by 8 AM the next morning, activate the contact plan." This removes the urgency of immediate confirmation and reduces network load.

Shared location services (Issue 152) provide passive awareness. If your parents share their location through Find My or Life360, you can see they're at home (presumably safe) without needing to call at all. The technology provides reassurance silently.

Designate an out-of-area relay contact and share that person's number with every family member.

Pick someone who lives in a different region from the rest of the family. Call them, explain the role, and make sure everyone has their number written down (not just in phone contacts).

Federal Disaster-Communications Activations Have Jumped Sevenfold Since 2016

The FCC's Disaster Information Reporting System, which pulls real-time network-outage data from carriers during major disasters, activated just once in 2016. That climbed to three times in both 2018 and 2019, five times in 2023, and seven times in 2024, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Every activation means cell networks somewhere in the country failed badly enough that federal officials needed to track carrier restoration in real time.

The trend argues for treating a family communication plan as standard equipment, not a one-time errand: years without at least one major network breakdown are becoming the exception, not the rule.

Source: Congressional Research Service, FCC

Remi Adeleke's SEAL career required extended separations from family during deployments, documented in Transformed. The communication protocols he established with his wife followed the same principles applicable to any dispersed family: designated check-in times, a relay contact, multiple communication methods, and pre-agreed signals for "I'm safe but can't talk."

Adeleke's civilian advice: the plan must be practiced before the event. A relay contact who doesn't know they're the relay contact is useless. A satellite communicator that's never been tested doesn't inspire confidence. The system works because everyone in the family knows it, has practiced it, and trusts it.

American Airlines Grounded Nationwide for the Third Time in Two Years

On July 28, an IT outage briefly severed connectivity across American Airlines' operational systems, triggering an FAA-ordered nationwide ground stop around 6:30 PM ET. More than 40 aircraft queued on taxiways at the airline's Dallas/Fort Worth hub alone, about 30% of the day's flights were delayed, and over 200 were canceled before systems came back online less than an hour later. It's the airline's third systemwide outage in 19 months, after outages in December 2024 (1,000+ flights delayed) and June 2025 (nearly 1,200 flights delayed across eight hubs). No cause beyond "a technology issue" has been named in any of the three.

The preparedness angle cuts close to this issue's theme: these outages hit fastest exactly when you're traveling and hardest to reach. An out-of-area relay contact matters just as much when you're the one stuck on a tarmac with a dead phone and a worried family on the other end.

Source: ABC News, Tech Times

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Family Check-In Protocol (Practiced System)

After a 14-hour silence during the 2021 ice storm, we built a system with family: daily text to the family Signal group by 9 AM. If no text by 9 AM, we assume they're busy. If no text by 6 PM, we call. If no answer by 9 PM, we call the relay contact. If the relay can't reach them, we call the neighbor. The escalation ladder has been tested twice during minor events. Both times, the 9 AM text arrived normally. Free.

Budget alternative: A simple agreement: "text me every morning. If I don't hear from you by evening, I'll start calling." No technology needed beyond a basic phone.

Overrated: Social media as family communication during emergencies. Facebook safety checks and Twitter posts work when the internet works. They don't work when your parent's area has no power, no cell service, and no internet.

Underrated: Having your family members' neighbors' phone numbers. If you can't reach your parents, their neighbor 200 feet away might have power, service, or direct visual confirmation that your parents are home and safe. One phone number bridges the gap.

Signal.org — Encrypted messaging that works over Wi-Fi when cell networks fail.

Life360 — Family location sharing across platforms.

Garmin inReach Mini 2 — Satellite communication when all else fails. About $250.

Ready.gov: Communication Plan — Federal template including out-of-area contact designation.

Numbeo.com — Cost of living and safety data for evaluating risk in family members' areas.

Laundry without power or running water. The unglamorous but essential skill of keeping clothes clean when the washing machine doesn't work.

PS: Those 14 hours taught me something about the psychology of dispersed families: the not-knowing is worse than any bad news. A system that confirms safety, even with a 12-hour delay, eliminates the worst part of any distant disruption. Build the system before you need it.