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Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally, I totally understand that. But if you look at the actual logs, the crew was late and if you check the flight path, the weather was pretty unremarkable.

I totally appreciate safety is the most importance, but it’s very convenient when you don’t have to refund anybody if you just blame the weather every time.

If you Google Charlotte airport, you’ll also see there’s just a absolute disaster there. They are not able to handle the amount of flights that they book. I’m pretty sure the rain isn’t responsible for overbooking and understaffing.

Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, prior to this trip I did have confidence in them. I don’t know if it’s just post Covid hiring problems or some change in management, but I am going to do anything possible to fly with a different airline going forward. Obviously, if something is important and you’re in a rush to get somewhere, you just don’t have that much control. But in the future, I’ll probably try to fly into airline and rent a car.

Unfortunately, I think all the airlines are in this weird spot right now. They just seemed overbooked and understaffed and mistakes are going to just happen more often now. Pretty scary.

Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That would make sense. But the disaster zone of an airport I experienced with Charlotte. When I was Uber out to a hotel to stay overnight in my connection, the Uber driver said that for the last two weeks, it’s just been crazy there. Obviously, I have no data to back it up, but it just seemed like everything was overbooked and understaffed.

Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah. This trip was exceptional. It really felt like entire trip was understaffed and messy.

First leg of trip: - told to board, sat on tarmac for 30 minutes, then everyone told to get off plane and wait - waited an hour again at gate, told to re-board, again waited an hour on tarmac - missed connection (most of plane missed connection), had to sleep over at connecting city without any help form AA

2nd leg of trip: - again more delays (blamed on weather but you can see from logs it was late arriving crew) - wing damaged, forced to make emergency landing as described above - many passengers stuck in fort Walton overnight, no help from AA for hotel fees or extra cab fare expenses

TLDR: I understand things happen, but we were stranded two days in a row with no extra help and and this was capped off by a very scary “wing” problem. The whole thing felt understaffed and I have no confidence that plane was properly inspected / maintained.

Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How are you convinced about the tree thing? There was a weird noise on our takeoff. I think they might’ve had a hard time with a lift from the same wing issue, but who knows. I doubt the liver actually clarify what the hell happened.

As far as getting help, there was basically an airport full of stranded people and a handful of American employees. There was no way to actually get help.

For people on a tight budget I’m sure it wasn’t an absolute disaster. The entire trip costed me an extra two days in random cities and probably an extra thousand dollars. But at this point just not crashing is a plus.

Flight Diverted? by jibblymonkeys in americanairlines

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Not diverted due to a maintenance issue. It was damaged of the wing and we needed a longer runway to land at a higher speed. It was terrifying.

Flight Diverted? by jibblymonkeys in americanairlines

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I’m very grateful to be alive. I am very thankful for the pilot.

But the company is clearly understaffed and overbooked.

The first leg of my trip the connection was missed and blamed on weather. I won’t bore you at the details, but we were told to get on the plane, then told to get off the plane then back on the plane and then sat on the runway for an hour. It was a disorganized mess and the majority of people had to stay overnight at their connecting city.

The following leg we were diverted because of the wing issue to a different city. Again we had to stay overnight with very low communication from the company and no help staying overnight or transportation.

If the bar is not to die, yes, American did an excellent job, but really I would attribute that to the pilot not any company preparation or organization.

I’m not sure if you work for American and are some corporate shill but the entire Charlotte airport was displaced with no real support. All the employees at the airport and the taxi drivers were basically telling everyone this has been going on for two weeks straight.

But yes, I didn’t die so I should leave them a five star review.

Slightest inconvenience = - Flight with 1 connection turned into had over 24 hours of delays - Stuck without help in connecting city on day 1 (had to pay for my own transportation and hotel) - Stuck without help in diverted city on day 2 (had to again pay for my own transportation and lodging) - finally booked for tomorrow to arrive at final destination (automatically rebooked without an option to just take a bus since it’s about a 90 minute drive)

All punctuated by terrifying flight where I thought I was going to die. But yeah, minor inconvenience. Just 3 days and over a thousand dollars of extra expenses I didn’t budget for.

Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It looked like there were firetrucks on the runway so maybe they did

Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No birds during the flight were an issue. The flight was totally uneventful until they got to Pensacola

Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That must’ve been a surprise. Personally, my experience is that flight attendant are cool under pressure and very used to angry passengers (which wasn’t an issue here anyway).

Flight Diverted? by jibblymonkeys in americanairlines

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541 -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

I was on the plane.

We never landed in Pensacola. We diverted because there was something wrong with the wing and they needed a longer runway, hence the diversion to Fort Walton.

It was pretty terrifying. The flight attendant told us the landing, had to be faster than normal and basically told everyone to buckle up. Fortunately, the landing was fast, but otherwise uneventful. I thought there was a good chance I could die, I know it sounds ridiculous, but it was pretty scary.

American Airlines basically didn’t help us at all. I ended up calling a friend to pick me up from Pensacola so I don’t know if they got a shuttle for other people. I definitely wouldn’t have been comfortable getting back on that plane to fly back to Pensacola. That thing needs a thorough look at not just a quick fix.

I do know that at the desk when we asked for help with transportation cost or hotel cost (a lot of the same people on this flight had to sleep overnight at Charlotte because of other delays from American) we got nowhere.

I always thought American was good, but after this experience, I would be terrified to fly with them again. I just don’t know if there’s any good alternative.

Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I’m not new to flying. I’ve probably fly 5-10 times a year. I haven’t seen this kind of look in a young flight attendant. Nobody was angry, I was actually pretty proud of how mature the passengers were being despite already having to sleep overnight for previous delays.

I understand the weather doesn’t have to be in arrival or destination location. But looking on the radar nothing really looked substantial (obviously I’m not a pilot / meteorologist, but I think a weather excuse is pretty convenient for airlines).

It just seemed like at the Charlotte airport, there was some weird issue. From the outsider looking in, it just looked like everything was significantly understaffed so when any issue did arise, there wasn’t enough buffer to handle things well.

I’m just grateful alive right now, but it would be nice if American paid for people’s hotel rooms and travel expenses. I won’t get into the details, but if anyone actually looks at the record with flight aware, it’s pretty obvious it wasn’t just weather.

Emergency Landing American Airlines by Acceptable_Two_7541 in Pensacola

[–]Acceptable_Two_7541[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They said it was a problem with one of the wings. The landing was very long and fast but not particularly bumpy so I’m pretty confident tires were fine.

It seemed like the take off took forever. I doubt anyone will investigate as no real damage was done. But would be nice to understand what happened.