After causing a stir by mysteriously grounding its new Airbus A321neo planes on Monday, United Airlines wants people to know the decision has nothing to do with safety and isn’t even that exciting. Rather, it has to do with the aircrafts’ “No Smoking” signs, which are required by a 1990 law to be operated by the flight crew.
That’s not the case on the A321neo, which has software that keeps the “No Smoking” sign turned on continuously during flights, like many other aircraft in United’s fleet. In 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration approved United’s request for an exemption to the federal regulation requiring the flight crew to manually operate the “No Smoking” sign.
There’s just one problem. United’s 2020 exemption only applies to the aircraft it listed in its request at that time, which didn’t include the A321neo. United only recently received the first models of its order of A321neos and…
