American Airlines Plane Departing SFO Makes Emergency Landing

An American Airlines jet made a safe emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday after the pilot reported smoke and the smell of fuel in the cockpit, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.

American Flight 442 was en route from San Francisco to Miami when the pilot declared an emergency, diverted to Los Angeles and landed shortly after 2 p.m., said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. There was no fire on the plane, which carried 180 passengers, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman d’Lisa Davies. Read more from CBS5

American Cancels 900 More Flights for 3rd Day Of Inspections

3rd day of cancellations has affected more than half the companies regularly scheduled flights across the United States. More than a quarter-million passengers directly impacted. American says it is reaccomodating stranded passengers and providing refunds to customers scheduled to travel this week on MD-80 aircraft. Meanwhile, the company is getting hammered by substantial financial losses as a result of the inspections and irregular operations.
More from CNN

American Cancels 1000 flights Wednesday

American Airlines cancelled 1000 flights Wednesday, more than one-third of its entire schedule. Wednesday’s cancellations follow 500 flights axed on Tuesday, all as a result of aircraft inspections. Similar inspections and audits have forced several other carriers to ground aircraft over the past couple weeks. More from CNN

American, Delta cancel hundreds of flights

Following yesterday’s cancellation of over 200 flights, American canceled another 132 flights today, while Delta airlines expects to cancel 275 flights today and Friday. As mentioned in yesterdays post, the airlines are racing to check wiring bundles on their aircraft. Although no instance of immediate passenger danger was noted, the inspections resulted from audits from the airline and FAA. If you have flights scheduled this week, be sure to check your flight status with the airline regularly.

American cancels about 200 flights today

American Airlines cancelled about 200 flights Wednesday so its crews can inspect wiring aboard its MD-80 aircraft. According to the airline, the inspections resulted from an audit conducted jointly by the FAA and AA. The list of cancellations, approximately 10% of the airlines scheduled departures, includes flights to and from the Bay Area.

These cancellations follow the temporary removal of several Southwest flights amid FAA allegations the airline failed to complete necessary inspections of its aircraft.

For flight status information visit http://www.flightstats.com/

United flight from SF to NY makes emergency landing

A United Airlines Boeing 757 plane made an emergency landing earlier today in Omaha, Nebraska. Cockpit instruments from the San Francisco to New York-bound plane indicated a fire in the cargo hold. No one was hurt, and no fire was found. The 63 passengers on board were rerouted on other planes.

Delayed Passengers at SFO – pillows and sleepers now available

San Francisco International has taken a bold move to help extinguish customer frustrations for certain plane delays. Under a new plan now available, if a plane has boarded and then is delayed for longer than an hour, airline personnel {should} notify the airport who will then initiate some special TLC for the passengers; booze and pretzels for all! (No).

This special care includes:
1. Deplane passengers into the International Terminal where additional restroom facilities will be available. 2. Allow people to walk around a bit, not feel cramped sitting and waiting on the plane. 3. Provide sleeping pads, pillows and sheets during instances when passengers must remain in the terminal overnight.

The plan is voluntary for the airlines, and they must contact the airport directly in order for the plan to kick-in.

Air Canada plane makes emergency landing,14+ hurt

While enroute from Victoria, BC to Toronto this morning, a routine Air Canada flight encountered severe turbulence requiring the plane to make an emergency landing in Calgary. Of the 88 passengers on board, at least 14 were injured, including some seriously. Reuters is reporting there may be as many as 40 injured.Developing News.

United Airlines Cancels over 600 flights past 3 days

According to the Chicago Tribune, United has canceled over 600 flights in the past 3 days due to weather and staffing problems; this has left thousands of people delayed or stranded throughout the country. Initially caused by the severe winter weather across the Midwest, a backlog of delays and cancellations resulted in flight crews being unable to report to other scheduled flights on time. While other airlines have been impacted this week, none to the degree of United’s problems.

According to federal statistics, airplanes are more crowded now than ever before. On average, most U.S flights operate above 80% of capacity; that empty middle seat is more likely than not to be filled. To compare, back in 1990 planes averaged 62% of capacity.

This means more people crowding the boarding gates, cramming in carry-on bags, and elevated stress levels from passengers and airline crew.

With such high aircraft loads, winter storms than cause flight cancellations make it much more difficult to rebook passengers on later flights, further irritating flyers. Read more: Here is a recent story from the Washington Post discussing the cause of higher flight loads, and other affects on travelers;
“Less free to move about the cabin.”