Pilot here. It sounds like the broken seat was only discovered that morning. We slide them sideways and back to get up, usually. Maybe it got stuck in that position, so the crew the night before didn’t even know it was broken. If they had, I can promise they almost certainly would have written it up to prevent the headache for the morning crew. And for you.
That said, a broken pilot seat is something that absolutely must be fixed. There have actually been accidents where a broken seat track was a contributing factor.
Sounds like it wasn’t a quick fix, but no one knew that until maintenance started working on it.
You were only three hours late and got onto another flight, so while it’s frustrating, I think you made out pretty good.
Agent here. I often tell passengers it’s sort of like when you get in your car in the morning. It was working last night but for whatever reason it doesn’t work in the morning. I can’t explain it but it’s the reality of the situation. We’ll do what we can as quickly as we can, but we’re not fortune tellers or mechanics.
Yeah in the heat of it, it was frustrating. But since time have passed, I've cooled down. Thanknyou for sharing your perspective. The pilot on that flight was also apoplectic and emphasized the importance of getting that chair fixed. I knew the circumstances but I was still upset 😂
I’ve been on a flight where that’s happened before. They had boarded a number of passengers, myself included, before they said they had to deplane us. They weren’t sure how long it was going to take to fix, so they started rebooking some passengers that requested it. Luckily, they were somehow able to get it fixed. I don’t think it took more than an hour. The crew did emphasize that they could not fly a plane with a stuck chair. Luckily, no passengers flipped out or anything.
Have you ever started a home project at home thinking it would a cake walk. But instead it turns into a nightmare and requires 4 Home Depot runs? Aircraft maintenance is like that.
I’m going to assume these are serious questions.
1) it may not have been broken the night before, the previous pilot(s) may have been able to tolerate it, or (most likely) it broke when they slid the seat back to get into it. It’s quite the maneuver to get into one of those seats. And you really don’t want the pilots seat to be broken.
2) crew can’t win. They could tell you that they have no idea how long it will take, and people will get mad. They can take an educated guess based on experience, but then people get mad if they’re wrong. It’s been my experience that the flight crews are usually pretty good at these guesses. Let’s be real, they thought it would take 20 minutes, got it apart, found out it was worse than they thought. What do you want them to do? They likely hurried…. Nobody was being paid until the plane took off, so they’re motivated to take off.
Your connecting flight is not considered when a safety repair needs to be done. Safety always overrules convenience in an airplane. Always.
3) the mechanic who repaired the plane is qualified to do that repair. There isn’t some magic seat repair specialist at your airport. They have procedures to follow, paperwork to fill out as they go (lots of it), and sometimes they have to call their maintenance department or the plane manufacturer for more information (even if they know how to do it, they must follow protocol).
The airline doesn’t have planes laying around for when yours breaks. They sometimes can do a quick shuffle and swap two aircraft around, but it’s not that easy. It’s a mountain of paperwork, new flight plan, taking everybody off the plane, moving bags, probably fueling the other plane, loading everybody back on, catering, etc. and all this is assuming they have an aircraft that is exactly the same configuration, otherwise seats will change, people will be mad because they paid “good money” for those seats, often passengers who bought first get kicked back to coach, and sometimes people get denied boarding, even though they were on the last plane. Then their luggage flies without them, etc. etc.
My friend, American Airlines wants nothing more than to get your plane with all its passengers to the destination. They will not risk the safety of an extremely expensive plane, the lives of their employees, and the lives of the passengers to make it happen.
On point number 2: people will even get mad if the crew makes an educated guess and it turns out they overestimated and the flight leaves EARLIER! People can’t be pleased, it’s just impossible.
Thank you for sharing this!! I would've never known without this experience. Stuff like this give me much more appreciation of the intricacies of air travel.
Girl, you need to chill. If there is absolutely anything wrong with anything a pilot uses on a plane… I would much rather be delayed for a couple hours instead of something worse happening.
Complaining for the sake of complaining, maybe you’re bored or maybe you have other stuff in your life in you’re taking it out on this. But just be quiet.
To be mad about a cockpit issue… Insanity. Go have a drink at the bar and wait for the plane to be fixed, Karen.
You missed my edit but I guess you needed a place to vent also. Noted.
And I legit had questions. I wanted to know why this happened. I didn't complain just to complain.. geez.
I didn’t need to place to vent… You’re the one making such a stupid post in the first place 😂 stupid people and stupid posts should absolutely be called out every time
What made it stupid? 🤔 all replies gave valid reasons for the scenario I describe. You might be that type of person in the back of the class who just woke up to cause problems. My bad.
You’re bitching about a pilot seat. That’s fucking stupid.
You made a long ass post because you were upset about aircraft maintenance. That’s embarrassing. You’re embarrassing.
1) he might have been the one to break it or the inbound pilot didn’t detect the problem. Or the closers forgot to notify operations to have maintenance check it before first flight.
2) they can only relay the information they are getting from the pilot and maintenance person, along with updates to their devices.
3) the flight deck is a very tight area so you can’t get a second hand in there.
MSP is not an American hub. Swapping planes isn’t a simple thing as people think.
Boooo I learned more about Air travels because of my drive-by. I plan to stick around so if you have tips, deals or recs to becoming a platinum like you, please share.
This happened to me at DFW last year. The crew switched out and the new pilot was shorter than the old pilot. Seat would not adjust so the new pilot could reach the pedals. They wound up sending all of us to a new gate to get on another plane.
I think it’s clear that American Airlines has a bone to pick with you specifically. They intentionally wanted to make sure your day specifically was ruined.
That or, they fucking try their hardest to limit delays but shit happens in the real world. Get over yourself.
I hope not!! I was a domestic connection. I felt bad for the ones transferring international.
Got my questions answered though. Tips on getting that executive platinum status?
Just FYI when seats are not set correctly... https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/lincidente-aereo-del-boeing-di-latam-e-stato-causato-da-un-problema-al-sedile-del-pilota/?amp
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never understand this stuff for first flight of day. mechanical issues that should have been dealt with when that plane came in the night before. unless the pilot broke it.....
Pilot here. It sounds like the broken seat was only discovered that morning. We slide them sideways and back to get up, usually. Maybe it got stuck in that position, so the crew the night before didn’t even know it was broken. If they had, I can promise they almost certainly would have written it up to prevent the headache for the morning crew. And for you. That said, a broken pilot seat is something that absolutely must be fixed. There have actually been accidents where a broken seat track was a contributing factor. Sounds like it wasn’t a quick fix, but no one knew that until maintenance started working on it. You were only three hours late and got onto another flight, so while it’s frustrating, I think you made out pretty good.
Agent here. I often tell passengers it’s sort of like when you get in your car in the morning. It was working last night but for whatever reason it doesn’t work in the morning. I can’t explain it but it’s the reality of the situation. We’ll do what we can as quickly as we can, but we’re not fortune tellers or mechanics.
And then floor it and have your seat fly all the way back. Now do that in an airliner. Or, don’t.
Yeah in the heat of it, it was frustrating. But since time have passed, I've cooled down. Thanknyou for sharing your perspective. The pilot on that flight was also apoplectic and emphasized the importance of getting that chair fixed. I knew the circumstances but I was still upset 😂
I’ve been on a flight where that’s happened before. They had boarded a number of passengers, myself included, before they said they had to deplane us. They weren’t sure how long it was going to take to fix, so they started rebooking some passengers that requested it. Luckily, they were somehow able to get it fixed. I don’t think it took more than an hour. The crew did emphasize that they could not fly a plane with a stuck chair. Luckily, no passengers flipped out or anything.
Have you ever started a home project at home thinking it would a cake walk. But instead it turns into a nightmare and requires 4 Home Depot runs? Aircraft maintenance is like that.
4 Home Depot runs is a good day. 7-8 sometimes and a 2 hour project on Friday after work gets done Monday at 1AM.
I feel this. This is so accurate.
Good to know. I'll plan to be more considered next time. 😭
My general home improvement project rule is that it takes 3x longer than you initially expect.
Take the estimate and "Twice as long, twice as much"
Every 10 minute job is one broken bolt away from a 2-day ordeal!
Everyone is doing their best. Chill out.
Thanks for your concern. I needed a place to vent and you caught a stray bullet. I'm doing better now.
I get it. It’s frustrating. I would imagine they’re just as frustrated as you are, if not more. 👍🏼
I’m going to assume these are serious questions. 1) it may not have been broken the night before, the previous pilot(s) may have been able to tolerate it, or (most likely) it broke when they slid the seat back to get into it. It’s quite the maneuver to get into one of those seats. And you really don’t want the pilots seat to be broken. 2) crew can’t win. They could tell you that they have no idea how long it will take, and people will get mad. They can take an educated guess based on experience, but then people get mad if they’re wrong. It’s been my experience that the flight crews are usually pretty good at these guesses. Let’s be real, they thought it would take 20 minutes, got it apart, found out it was worse than they thought. What do you want them to do? They likely hurried…. Nobody was being paid until the plane took off, so they’re motivated to take off. Your connecting flight is not considered when a safety repair needs to be done. Safety always overrules convenience in an airplane. Always. 3) the mechanic who repaired the plane is qualified to do that repair. There isn’t some magic seat repair specialist at your airport. They have procedures to follow, paperwork to fill out as they go (lots of it), and sometimes they have to call their maintenance department or the plane manufacturer for more information (even if they know how to do it, they must follow protocol). The airline doesn’t have planes laying around for when yours breaks. They sometimes can do a quick shuffle and swap two aircraft around, but it’s not that easy. It’s a mountain of paperwork, new flight plan, taking everybody off the plane, moving bags, probably fueling the other plane, loading everybody back on, catering, etc. and all this is assuming they have an aircraft that is exactly the same configuration, otherwise seats will change, people will be mad because they paid “good money” for those seats, often passengers who bought first get kicked back to coach, and sometimes people get denied boarding, even though they were on the last plane. Then their luggage flies without them, etc. etc. My friend, American Airlines wants nothing more than to get your plane with all its passengers to the destination. They will not risk the safety of an extremely expensive plane, the lives of their employees, and the lives of the passengers to make it happen.
On point number 2: people will even get mad if the crew makes an educated guess and it turns out they overestimated and the flight leaves EARLIER! People can’t be pleased, it’s just impossible.
It’s true!
Thank you for sharing this!! I would've never known without this experience. Stuff like this give me much more appreciation of the intricacies of air travel.
Girl, you need to chill. If there is absolutely anything wrong with anything a pilot uses on a plane… I would much rather be delayed for a couple hours instead of something worse happening. Complaining for the sake of complaining, maybe you’re bored or maybe you have other stuff in your life in you’re taking it out on this. But just be quiet. To be mad about a cockpit issue… Insanity. Go have a drink at the bar and wait for the plane to be fixed, Karen.
You missed my edit but I guess you needed a place to vent also. Noted. And I legit had questions. I wanted to know why this happened. I didn't complain just to complain.. geez.
I didn’t need to place to vent… You’re the one making such a stupid post in the first place 😂 stupid people and stupid posts should absolutely be called out every time
What made it stupid? 🤔 all replies gave valid reasons for the scenario I describe. You might be that type of person in the back of the class who just woke up to cause problems. My bad.
You’re bitching about a pilot seat. That’s fucking stupid. You made a long ass post because you were upset about aircraft maintenance. That’s embarrassing. You’re embarrassing.
🥱
1) he might have been the one to break it or the inbound pilot didn’t detect the problem. Or the closers forgot to notify operations to have maintenance check it before first flight. 2) they can only relay the information they are getting from the pilot and maintenance person, along with updates to their devices. 3) the flight deck is a very tight area so you can’t get a second hand in there. MSP is not an American hub. Swapping planes isn’t a simple thing as people think.
Thank you for sharing this! Adds more knowledge to the cranium.
another drive-by IROP story. just what this sub needs more of...
Boooo I learned more about Air travels because of my drive-by. I plan to stick around so if you have tips, deals or recs to becoming a platinum like you, please share.
Maybe the pilot broke the chair…
This happened to me at DFW last year. The crew switched out and the new pilot was shorter than the old pilot. Seat would not adjust so the new pilot could reach the pedals. They wound up sending all of us to a new gate to get on another plane.
I think it’s clear that American Airlines has a bone to pick with you specifically. They intentionally wanted to make sure your day specifically was ruined. That or, they fucking try their hardest to limit delays but shit happens in the real world. Get over yourself.
I hope not!! I was a domestic connection. I felt bad for the ones transferring international. Got my questions answered though. Tips on getting that executive platinum status?
Give up half your life sitting in airplanes.
😭 Give you that increased risk of blot clots for the status
Someone could use a nap!
They did it just to piss you off.
Caught me red handed. Next time, I'm cheering on the flight team.
Just FYI when seats are not set correctly... https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/lincidente-aereo-del-boeing-di-latam-e-stato-causato-da-un-problema-al-sedile-del-pilota/?amp
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never understand this stuff for first flight of day. mechanical issues that should have been dealt with when that plane came in the night before. unless the pilot broke it.....