Why do I get the feeling we’ll be seeing AA up for sale on eBay soon…

A[n American Airlines] Boeing 757 from Boston to Miami carrying 175 passengers diverted to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport on Saturday when three seats in row 12 came loose shortly after takeoff. A second American Boeing 757 returned to JFK on Monday morning after a similar seat issue was discovered.
[…]
Earlier Tuesday, an American Airlines flight from Chicago to London made an unscheduled landing at Shannon Airport in Ireland after a passenger reported a smoky odor, an airline spokesman said.
[…]
The airline has also been beset recently by labor troubles, delays and flight cancellations. American, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late last year, persuaded a judge to throw out its contract with the pilots union last month. Since then, the pilots have been engaging in what the airline calls a slowdown that has caused the number of flights that are delayed and canceled to skyrocket.



  1. Noname says:

    So much for “shared sacrifice.”

  2. bobbo, the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist says:

    Seats don’t “become loose.” They are installed incorrectly and no one caught it—or the one who is supposed to catch it actually did it, or was too busy doing other things to check the seat pin locations.

    Looks like the employees are PO’d ad retaliating in the only way they know. The only flaw I see in this plan is indeed the whole company goes bankrupt or is sold off and cut up.

    Then, instead of a crappy job, or a job that wasn’t as good as it was 5 years ago, or isn’t as good as you thought it was going to be……. you got NO job.

    Its capitalism. Best system there is.

    • skunkman62 says:

      Let me get this straight, you’re saying the AA mechanics are so angry they are willing to endanger the lives of others to include their families and co-workers plus the likelihood of loosing their A&P license banning them to work on aircraft and serving prison time.

      As an aircraft mechanic for nearly 30 year, I find your comment to be disgusting and ignorant.

      • bobbo, the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist says:

        Well Skunkman–I respect your position and “tend to” hold it myself. but once locked in, those seat mechanisms don’t unlock by themselves.

        Happy mechanics would never do this. what about the unhappy ones? The constantly overworked ones?

        So==tackle the harder issue: what happened?

        • jasontheodd says:

          The union has said late last night that the seats were installed by a third party sub-contractor hired by AA management, not the airlines own staff. So this is starting to look more like cheep labor was hired, cheap work was done… The few thousand they saved that day will cast them what looks like millions at this point. I don’t have a pony in the pro-union or anti-union race, I’ve done both quite happily in the past, but as a rule work done by the lowest bidder tends to look like work done by the lowest bidder.

    • Loose Screw says:

      “Its capitalism. Best system there is.”

      Hopefully tonight, Romney will convince Obama and the DEMs of this too.

  3. ECA says:

    http://nytimes.com/2012/09/30/opinion/sunday/a-trans-atlantic-trip-turns-kafkaesque.html?_r=1&

    TRY THIS ONE..

    Flight 121 from Paris to New York began on a clear autumn afternoon. It ended over 30 hours later. For those of us without miles, it is probably still going.

    The initial delay was a mere hour or two. Some were told that our aircraft possessed faulty tires and brakes. Others were told that the crew could not find their way in from Paris. Neither scenario was particularly encouraging.

  4. Grandpa says:

    It makes sense they would go under. Higher fares and lower wages equal less flyers. Someone has to go. Might as well be American.

  5. msbpodcast says:

    And you can look forward to your fares going up.

    Book early, pray your carrier doesn’t go broke, pray your plane doesn’t get broke and pray you actually get a seat.

    (Look forward to seat sales at the gates as the person there will have a whole lot more power as to who gets on and who stands there waving bye bye.)

  6. NewformatSux says:

    Wasn’t it an American Airlines flight that ‘blew up’ shortly after takeoff after 9/11? Mechanical failure not a shoe bomber is the official line.

  7. Happy Hour says:

    Is it just coincidence that “AA” is also an acronym for Alcoholics Anonymous?!

    Seems to me that A.A. is run by a bunch of current drunks!

  8. The Monster's Lawyer says:

    The stewardess said take a seat. So I did.

  9. deowll says:

    At a guess some unionized employees want to collect unemployment otherwise why try to put your company out of business?

  10. ECA says:

    Ok lets get into this..

    OLD business way:
    After paying bills and employees, WHATS LEFT is split at the top.
    When SALEs go down, you cut a few people, AND CUT TOP WAGES..

    NEW business..
    THOSE ON TOP..
    Keep their jobs, as they have contracts..NOT UNIONS.
    They get paid EVEN if they dont work..
    They get paid on top NO MATTER what happens.
    SALEs go down, you fire ALL you can, but KEEP wages on top.

    I asked a person who makes over 59k per year..to justify his wages over a Janitor that gets 15k..
    And WHO do you think would be missed first?
    trash isnt dumped, Floors arnt cleaned, Toilets STINK and no toilet paper…
    Unless those on TOP are going to DO the janitors job, He will be missed QUICKLY..

    • noname says:

      Yes ECA, that is our post Ronald McDonald Reagan system.

      This is the “New American morning” he promised.

      It stinks (no pun intended).

  11. deegee says:

    Broken seats? Sounds like americans eating too much McDonalds again… 😉


0

Bad Behavior has blocked 9294 access attempts in the last 7 days.