Frustrations and worries mounted Tuesday at U.S. airports after American Airlines said it was canceling as many as 500 flights for another round of maintenance checks. More flight delays are expected today.
Cancellations by the world's largest airline were the biggest yet in a rash of maintenance- related disruptions for passengers over the last month that has been accompanied by fare hikes, increasingly crowded planes, higher fuel surcharges and airline shutdowns.
An estimated 54,000 travelers had their plans disrupted Tuesday.
Since late last month, American has canceled almost 1,000 flights to inspect the wiring bundles in its MD-80 fleet. The airline operates 300 MD-80s, with an average age of 18 years.
American decided to re- inspect its fleet after the Federal Aviation Administration raised concerns about an inspection last month. The airline said it was rechecking the spacing of the ties on the wiring bundles and the direction in which the retention clips and cords were facing.
"It goes without saying that this second grounding is beyond annoying," said Joe Brancatelli, who publishes Joe Sent Me, a website for business travelers. "It's one thing to ground planes for emergency inspections. . . . It's entirely another matter to ground the planes again because the emergency inspections may not have been done properly."
At Los Angeles International Airport, 15 American flights were canceled as of midafternoon Tuesday. Four more flights were scrubbed at San Diego International Airport, two at John Wayne Airport in Orange County and one each at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and Ontario International Airport.
Dozens of stranded passengers at LAX lined up at the American counter to re-book their flights, many clutching red slips of paper containing an apology from the airline.
Raul Garza, 39, arrived at the airport to find that his flight home to Austin, Texas, had been canceled. Garza called the incident "a red flag for American" and said he might avoid the carrier if cancellations continued to occur.
"Flying nowadays is so much more inconvenient than it used to be," Garza said. "It's more stressful and it seems less safe."
American said there was no cause for alarm.
"We've been working in good faith to ensure that we are in complete compliance with this airworthiness directive," said Gerard Arpey, chief executive of American's parent company, AMR Corp. "We regret and apologize that we are once again causing inconvenience to our customers, but we will continue to work in good faith until we satisfy all of the technical issues."
