United Airlines this week was forced to ground its fleet of new Airbus A321neo planes because of a little-known 1990 law.
United, which has five of the planes in its fleet, started operating the A321neo in December 2023. All five of the planes were dropped from United’s schedule earlier this week because of how the “No Smoking” signs operate, or don’t operate, onboard.
Unlike older models, the A321neo is designed to keep the “No Smoking” signs on continuously during the flight, not allowing the flight crew to turn it off and on manually. That 1990 law, which is known as “‘US code 14 CFR § 121.317(a),” requires all planes to give flight crews the ability to turn the signs on and off while flights are operating, even though smoking has been banned on flights since 2000.
United, and other carriers, have an exemption for that law with the Department of Transportation (DOT) for most of its fleet, including all of its Boeing…
