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Subscribe to RSSAmerican Airlines says "coking": years of spilled soda, coffee and other detritus, is responsible for gumming up the locking pin that holds the seats to the floor. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
American Airlines has grounded dozens of airplanes for a second time this week due to loose passenger seats, causing nearly 100 flights cancellations on Thursday and Friday. It said it was quickly resolving the problem, which the company indicated was caused by an array of factors, including the “gunk” from drinks that get spilled.
"We have identified the issue and our maintenance teams are securing an FAA-approved locking mechanism to make sure no seat can be dislodged,” company spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said in a statement. “Repairs are complete on 40 of the 48 aircraft. All of our (Boeing) 757s will be back in service by Saturday."
She said the seat issue forced the company to cancel 50 flights on Thursday, and 45 on Friday.
American first grounded the 48 Boeing 757 aircraft it operates on Monday for inspection after seats came loose on three flights, two of which made emergency landings as a result.
Huguely’s statement did not provide detail as to what caused the seat problem, but another company spokeswoman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said multiple “contributing factors” led to the problem.
“There are a lot of contributing factors — normal wear and tear, gunk that can affect the locking-pin mechanism—whether its debris or sodas,” she said.
But she said “gunk” was not the primary cause. “There were some installation issues—a lot of contributing factors.”
Read the full story on NBC Travel
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Leave a Comment:
Gunk from drinks, now thats a dumb ass excuse.
Check the seats in your car. Check the bolts that hold your toilet. Check your garbage disposal. Etc.,etc.,etc.. Check you nasty brush.
Scary. Think about how clean - or not - their planes must be that gunk becomes a problem.
What a bull@!$%# excuse. First of all if it was sticky soda accumulating it would seem that it would actually prevent the loosening of bolts or screws by actng as a cement, not lubricating them. Even if it was the cause, then I would assert that the airlines inspection dept. has overlooked the thorough cleaning of the fasteners in question. I believe the real story is that many airlines are now outsourcing the maintaining of their planes by foreign firms who ignore many of the checklist of items in order to bring down costs.
So they are saying that they don't clean their planes good enough?
Again, more BS from American Air. I have to repeat from a previous comment I made when this first was reported. In 4 flights in 1 week I was subjected to: A plane with no flaps and had to make an emergency landing, A plane that ran out of fuel and had to land a get more, A flight cancelation on a plane that had just landed and was canceled due to mechanical problems, and A flight where the plane was piloted by a co-pilot. Lucky to have made it home alive., enough excuses by AA, ground them before something really bad happens.
Odd that every other airline has "gunk" but their seats aren't coming off the rails!
Gunk is a completely and utterly absurd reason for seats to come loose. What it means is the maintenance on these planes has been poorly for a long time. Doesn't anyone know how to clean up debris before re-installing a seat. This leads me to believe that the FOD (Foriegn Object Debris) Program is a mess too. American has major problems that the FAA better start to look into now before we have another disaster.
Its a maintenance issue....no doubt in my mind.....
Apparently the seats were new ones which had just been installed.
Typical of today's shoddy workmanship.
Deny and deflect is the new age for failure to take responsibility. "Gunk", it's called failure to follow maintenance policies and procedures. When one of these jets crash and find, "Gunk", in the engine will that be considered acceptable?
As if American Airlines doesn't have enough serious problems, lets imply that it's not really THEIR fault that seats come flying loose on their planes... "Now seriously folks, there a component of the cheap cranberry juice that turns back to corn syrup and...."
What about seats backs that break loose on American's older MD-80s? I had either 32-D or 33-D on an American MD-80 series aircraft from ORD to DEN in October, 2010. It is an aisle seat in the last row before the rear lavatories. When I sat down the entire seat back broke right off and landed on the floor behind the seat in the area between the rear lavatories. Now I am a pretty big guy at 6'5" and 325 lbs, but the seat back should have been able to withstand several times that amount due to the G-forces involved during takeoff and landing.
So after the American mechanics get finished cleaning all of the "gunk" out of the floor rails on their 757s, maybe they should also do an inspection of their MD-80 seat backs too, before one of them breaks-off on take-off or landing, and somebody gets hurt?
"Gunk!?!?"....Are you kidding me?? "Gunk!?!?"....Is this what they are now calling 'poor maintenance?? Oh, and how about the "Gunk!?!?"....Why don't you try cleaning it up once in a while?? I have flown over 3,000 flights in my business career, and I can tell you that flying ain't getting any better. Airplane bathrooms rival those in Greyhound bus stations (maybe even worse), no more pillows or blankets (unless you travel 1st class). Paying for baggage sucks, and, drinks are more expensive than those found in many fine bars and restaurants. Oh, and thanks, Reagan, for deregulating the airline industry. Everything is coming up roses!!
What! They must not be cleaning the planes, oh nasty planes!
This is what happens when you do your maintenance out of country!
As if this country isn't rife with shoddy workmanship!
Yes blame Reagan and the republicans for deregulation. Not only the airlines. And to the idiots that don't know how "gunk" works, look under the seats in your nasty car. Pull your nasty carpet up. Check the bolts that hold your toilet. Look in your garbage disposal.
Sounds like poor housekeeping.
Damn, if only I could have blamed 'gunk' for my lack of housekeeping skills while I was in college. And all this time I thought it was because I was stoned all the time.
Geez, I miss the 70's.
I'll vote for the npminee for US President that promises with his life not to bail them out or another corporation
I hope the FAA is checking all other airlines. After all, any day now we will hear about their seats coming loose too.
I guess they never heard of a locking nut or locking washer?
"But she said “gunk” was not the primary cause. “There were some installation issues—a lot of contributing factors.”
WHAT? A lot of contributing factors... but the article focuses on GUNK... I think the only gunk here is the gunk they are trying to sell us. Not buying it. I want to hear ALL the contributing factors. What ever happened to who, what, when, where and why? I haven't heard a spin like this since my husband tried to explain why he didn't come home one night.
It might be easier to clean the"gunk"out of the floor rails when you have the seats removed. Oh, I almost forgot, as this didn't start happening until American changed out their older seats for new ones, so they had to remove the old ones from each aircraft first, thereby failing to clean the gunk out of the floor rails when it would have made the most sense to do so from a cost standpoint!
Perhaps bankrupt airlines should wait to change-out their seats if they can't afford to clean the gunk out of the seating rails at the same time, which might leave more money left over to bargain with the pilot's union with?
Why aren't the maintenance cleaning the planes to begin with? Glad I don't fly at all. I keep my car cleaned all the time and maintain it. Yuck!
This speaks volumes for their cleaning service!!!!
Why doesn't American Airlines hire professional liars who can actually come up with a least a PLAUSIBLE lie?????????
Are there any dimwits here who actually BELIEVE that????
Wow...and to think I've consumed a lot of those drinks for many years....Oh...No...do ya think I might have some loose screws? Could be I'm full of GUNK....or maybe those airline people are!
I have just one coment , aren't the planes throughly cleaned before the flight , if that is the case then how come there was so much gunk that it would contribute to the seats coming loose, if that is not the case that the planes are not given a throughly cleaning how can the consumer riding on your plane be sure they are not coming into contact with all kinds of nasty bacteria , like when legionaires disease was on that one flight is it possible that maybe more people were exposed cause the plane was not throughly cleaned. I believe that the true cause was from the installation of the new seats and that someone forgot to tighten something or it was defective but gunk , no I don't believe that. I would love to think your management team at American Airlines is smarter than that , and blaming the passengers is just bad taste on thier part , number one it proves they don't clean the planes well ,so everyone flying on thier planes is apt to catch things they really don't want. I think it was a cheap shot to take at the passengers, in this economy , there is probably a reason you are going to be bankrupt, it would have been better to just explain the seats were not right and let it go , you might have had one or two passengers that wanted to sue you but now you will lose alot more in people who don't want to be blamed for your malfunction , not flying with you anymore at any price. I believe the olsd saying is "you cut your own nose off to spite your face."
Lets be real, the main problem with American Airlines is this: THEY JUST DO NOT CARE!!!! They do not care if you like them, or if you like the service, they know that you will keep paying the fee's and keep flying, because there is no alternative!
Wouldn't it be refreshing if they just came out and told the truth? Just put it out there - here's the list of contributing factors and here's how we're going to fix it.
The truth of the matter is probably something more like this:
We have labor problems and our maintenance people were told to get this done in an unrealistically short time frame and so had a disincentive to report any problems.
Our design engineers created fasteners based on new plane installation and failed to take into account the need to make larger fasteners and backing plates to adjust for wear and tear on existing bolt holes. We didn't set specifications for how far apart new holes needed to be drilled from existing ones so that metal fatigue wouldn't cause failure of the metal between penetrations in the floor and we didn't plug or weld anything in the old holes.
We don't really clean planes routinely - just the big obvious stuff like cups, newspapers and obvious spills. Our cost accountants said we could reduce costs by X% if we decreased the frequency of true deep cleaning.
We didn't lift the carpet and do entire sections - just spot replaced seats, so we didn't really evaluate the structural strength of the floor.
Those are probably closer to the truth about why these seats are failing. Percentage game - they thought they could get away with a cheap, shoddy and poorly planned replacement process. Now the blame-storming is no-doubt underway behind closed doors to see who can avoid taking the heat for this.
It's usually cheaper in the long run to do things right the first time. Can't help but think this is another result of the prevalent new business model focusing on short term returns rather than longer term planning and reinvestment in business equipment and assets. If your investors want to be able to get their money out in 3 years, 5 years, etc. they don't care about doing what's best for the longer term health of the business.
More like, "Goons" from the pilot Unions. Shame on them. All of a sudden it is happening on multiple planes, sounds fishy to me.