Summary
- American Airlines Airbus A321 flew with a broken first class seat and several people claim to have flown on the same plane.
- American Airlines confirmed that the seat has now been repaired.
- New Flagship Business Suites delayed, Boeing deliveries affected by delays.
According to some posts online, American Airlines has been flying an Airbus A321 with a broken first class seat for several weeks, causing significant criticism.
Flying with a broken seat
Broken things in aircraft interiors are rare, at least not in the United States. Airlines typically have spare parts for anything that breaks so the aircraft can remain in normal operations. Grounded aircraft do not make an airline any money, nor do broken seats, but it seems that American Airlines flew a plane around with a broken seat for several weeks.
Three days ago, Brandon Mueller shared a photo on Facebook of a broken first class seat on an American Airlines Airbus A321. Another user commented, “Heading to Florida? I was on that plane 2 weeks ago. Good to see it still hasn’t been fixed.” Several others reported flying on the same aircraft recently. Mueller’s photo shows a first class seat with no seatback and a sign that says ‘do not occupy’ and the seat behind this one was also blocked off.
Screenshot of Mueller’s Facebook post
The plane in question is an eight-year-old Airbus A321, delivered in September 2015, registered as N148AN. Mueller’s flight took place on April 26 from Orlando International Airport to Philadelphia International Airport, operating as AA563. Simple Flying contacted the airline for a statement, and a spokesperson said the seat had been fixed. After analyzing flight data, it seems that the A321 seat change likely occurred at the airline’s main hub, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). On the 27th, it spent three hours on the ground between flights and then, after a turn to Cancun, was on the ground overnight.
American did not confirm how long the aircraft flew with a broken seat, so the only information available is what people said on the Facebook post.
Recent American Airlines news
Speaking of first class, American has delayed the launch of its newest premium product, the Flagship Business Suites. Unveiled in 2022, the new product will feature privacy doors, a first for an American carrier, when installed. The airline anticipated launching the new seats on a Boeing 787-9 on its inaugural flight from DFW to Brisbane Airport in October. Last week, American said the new seats would not be available on the DFW-BNE inaugural and did not provide a timeline for their launch.
The new cabin was supposed to be available on new Boeing 787-9 deliveries this year and will also be installed on some Boeing 777-300ERs. Until last week, American was expecting six 787s from Boeing this year, but troubles at the manufacturer led American to halve the number of expected planes. Because of the delays, the airline was forced to switch up its long-haul network once again.
Photo: American Airlines
American is also expecting new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft but is evaluating whether it will need to change its network operated by narrowbodies. No changes have been made at this time, but that can change, as several airlines have had to do, like Southwest Airlines, which last week announced it had to pull out of several airports.
