2009 News

American Airlines limits number of passengers on its Boeing 767 fleet

American Airlines today announced that after reviewing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policy on raft capacity (which mentions that the rafts on the plane should accommodate for all passengers, crew and lap children), they found that the Boeing 767 fleet was not following the policy. So, temporarily all flights using the plane will be restricted to 228 instead of earlier capacity of 236 (both number includes the crew of 11). The airline did add that it was never safety concern, since the the seat cushions could be used as flotation devices instead of the raft.

It seems that the Hudson river landing of flight 1549 had caused the self check.

The airline is going to add additional rafts to the planes for permanent solution. What it means the passenger? For long term, the airline might restrict the number of seats that it can sell and for the current flights, the flights which are sold between above capacity and capacity-8 might be looking for volunteers to fly some other flight, if all passengers show-up.

Lesson Learned from 1549? Pay attention to your flight attendants

I am one of those people who would normally get on a flight, exchange the usual smile and hello and then go straight to my seat paying little or no attention to the announcements or safety briefings by the flight attendants and the crew. My only interaction with the flight attendants come when they ask for choice of beverage or food or if I get an exit seat and I say “yes” to whatever!

Since flight 1549 crash landed in Hudson river, I have taken 4 flights (2 were with US Airways) with the last one being exceptionally turbulent. All the four flights I made sure to hear my flight attendants on their safety briefing, made sure to keep the seat belt on and tight and kept looking through the window to look for birds .

Though I think the chance of having a similar event is very small, but still my advice to everyone – Pay Attention!

Flight 1549 update: US Airways gives $5000 check + cost of the ticket to each passenger

US Airways announced that it has sent a check of $5000 (for lost possessions) to each passenger that were on the flight 1549 that crash landed on the Hudson river. The airline also included the check for reimbursement of the ticket price. Though they did mention that the passenger’s possessions might not be returned for months (checked for weight and balance) till the investigation is complete.

The letter mentioned (from CNN) -

“The National Transportation Safety Board has now begun their
investigation of this accident, and we are offering our full
participation and cooperation,” airline executive Kerry Hester wrote in
a letter accompanying each check.

“Investigatory protocol
requires that the aircraft and all of its contents must be examined and
weighed prior to releasing any items onboard in order to verify the
weight and balance on the aircraft. … The process is to weigh all
items in their current state, dry them for eight weeks and then weigh
them again,” Hester wrote.

“This means we cannot return your items to you until the NTSB
recovers and releases them, a process that will likely take several
months. It is also possible that some items may be unrecoverable.”

The airline
also included checks to reimburse the 150 passengers for the costs of
their tickets. “This is an obvious reimbursement that we wanted to make
quickly to each of you,” the letter says.