American Airlines Seats Unbolted During Flight, Plane Forced to Emergency Land

American Airlines Seats Unbolted During Flight, Plane Forced to Emergency Land

The Federal Aviation Administration is now investigating possible reasons why a row of seats of a American Airline passenger jet became loose in flight, which caused an emergency landing.

The seats on American Airlines Flight 6885, a Boeing 757, suddenly were unbolted during a night flight from Boston to Miami. The flight was forced to make an emergency landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

With one passager injured the aircraft landed safely at JFK. The passengers were delayed three hours before being put on another flight to Miami.

This incident is the latest in a string of recent problems for American Airlines. Maintenance and employee issues have led to significant delays and cancellations in recent weeks.

A reliable source reported last month that the airline was forced to delay nearly 40 percent of its flights because of maintenance issues. The airline blamed the pilots, who it claimed were calling out sick 20 percent more than normal.

"The recent disruptions are primarily due to the significant increase in maintenance write-ups by our pilots, many right at the time of departure," the airline said in a statement last month.

A fight last month between two flight attendants over a cellphone forced a plane to turn back to the gate at JFK and delayed passengers four hours while the airline found a new crew.

Wall Street Journal travel editor Scott McCartney warned passengers, "My advice is, until things get straightened out with the operations, if you have a choice, you ought to book another airline.

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Friday October 05 2012, 2:37 AM EST. Ref: Reuters. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0