American Airlines red-eye flight 550 from Phoenix, AZ to Boston, MA diverted to Syracuse, NY this morning at 7:11am because one of the pilots passed away InFlight. Initial reports say indicate that the pilot that passed was the Captain on board.
We’re hearing that one of the flight attendants crewed to work flight 550 was a nurse, tried, but sadly wasn’t able to save him.
We will update this post with more information as we obtain it.
Savvy Stews
American Airlines abandons 98 year old woman?
A 98-year old woman wants an apology from American Airlines after she said she was left strapped in a wheelchair at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and left to fend for herself.
Rosario Sanchez says she flies to her daughter’s home in Gainesville, FL every year from her native Madrid. At 98-years old, Sanchez is still in relatively good health and moves around well, her daughter Rosa McElreath, told CBS DFW. But her family still asked American Airlines to provide an attendant who would push her through the large terminal upon her arrival to the U.S. on Sept. 17.
“When I saw the people from Madrid coming through and I wait for her and I panicked I thought maybe she didn’t come,” McElreath told CBS.
Sanchez had arrived on time but she said she was wheeled to the “baggage claim area of the secured customs terminal” and was led to believe she had to connect on another flight by an airport attendant. American Airlines told FoxNews.com that their records show Sanchez had checked a bag on her flight from Spain.
“He [the attendant] kept telling her she can’t leave she had to stay there,” McElreath said.
For over 90 minutes, the elderly woman says she was not only left alone, but secured into the wheelchair with straps that rendered her unable to move—even when she had to go the bathroom.
“She kept screaming to everybody help me please help me,” McElreath told CBS. Sanchez, who only speaks Spanish, says her pleas fell on deaf ears.
Eventually, a different attendant found Sanchez and wheeled her back to her family. But the attendant reportedly asked the family for a tip.
“She’s mad, she was mad,” McElreath reiterated of her mother’s ordeal. “She said I’m a coming no more to the United States.”
American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein told FoxNews.com that they are currently working with AirServ, a private contractor that provides terminal transportation service, to investigate the incident but have not been able to determine exactly what happened to Sanchez:
“American cares deeply about all of our passengers, and we take this alleged incident seriously. We immediately reached out to the third-party contractor that provides this service, and continue to investigate. However, we have yet to substantiate these claims.”
Sanchez’s family have contacted the airline to complain but they are seeking an apology.
FOX News
American Airlines grounds flights in the US
American Airlines was forced to ground large parts of its fleet on Thursday night, after a computer malfunction led to a widespread outage.
Flights from Chicago O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami were all halted while the company struggled to deal with the issue.
The issue began around midday local time, and continued until mid-afternoon. The airline didn’t go into any more detail on what caused the malfunction, while the Federal Aviation Authority’s advisory only detailed it as “airline issues”.
During the outage, an American Airlines spokesman told Time Magazine: “We have resolved connectivity issues that led to a ground stop today at our Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and Miami hubs. We apologise for the inconvenience and are working to get our customers on their way as soon as possible.”
The grounding is just the latest in a long string of US airlines forced to delay or cancel flights due to computer errors. In July, United Airlines was forced to ground thousands of flights across the US after what the airline described as a “network connectivity issue”. In June, United again was forced to ground flights due to “automation issues”.
And in April, American Airlines delayed multiple flights after the iPad app used by pilots crashed. Introduced in 2013, the cockpit iPads are used as an “electronic flight bag”, replacing 16kg (35lb) of paper manuals which pilots are typically required to carry on flights. They distribute information such as flight plans throughout the airline’s fleet, but failed across the airline on 29 April.
The Guardian
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