On April 24th, American Airlines suffered diversions and cancellations as thunderstorms hit the Dallas Area. American and American Eagle diverted 129 flights. The most they have ever diverted were 133…on September 11, 2001.
Of the 13 flights diverted that sat at various airports for more than four hours, only the passengers of Flight 556, from Phoenix to Dallas were unable to leave the jet. The plane sat on the ground at Midland-Odessa Airport in Texas. For a 2 hour and 20 minute flight…the passengers were on the plane for 11 hours by the time it finally left Midland.
Airport officials had brought a stairway to the jet, but it didn’t fit and was thus unsafe. As we have been informed, passengers cannot go up and down in the forklifts used to restock aircraft, for some legal reason(Anyone have any more information, please comment). Thus is quite possible…Midland does not see many 757s, we suppose.
The snacks onboard ran out rather quickly for the nearly 200 passengers…drinking water became scarce. The airline brought pizza, but only 50-70 slices and 30 bags of chips…not even enough to go around. Passengers complained they received few notices of what was going on.
American had promised to reform their practices after this happened in December…but apparently they have let another planeful of passengers down. The Air Transport Association, which represents airlines in the US, believes American handled the overall disruption of over a hundred planes well, if not this specific plane.
Most airlines still believe that no legislation is warranted…and that they will police themselves. We are becoming less sure…