A reader flying American Airlines from Nice to Philadelphia boarded their aircraft to find that the tray table at their economy seat 13K was broken, “Broken tray in seat 13K not ideal for an eight hour flight with a 6 year old.”
He flagged down a flight attendant. Sometimes problems can be fixed! Or perhaps there were other seats! She “reminded us she’s not a mechanic. So helpful. Asked do we really want to put the whole plane on a mechanical delay or do we want to get out on time?”
Let’s assume for a moment that the flight attendant wasn’t being sarcastic, but was really asking! What would be your choice?
- You don’t know how long a maintenance delay would be to address a broken tray table.
- Even if it’s short, there are people trying to make connections in Philadelphia.
You want the tray table to eat and drink on, and maybe for your laptop or tablet. You want it to manage all the stuff your six year old will be playing with.
- Do you suffer through the flight, so that everyone else can make their connection?
- Does it matter if you have a connection? This reader had a 2.5 hour connecting flight after this one.
- What about the next passenger in your seat – if you decide to get it fixed, they’ll have a working tray table on their flight. If you skip it, it will probably still be broken.
What do you choose? One passenger doesn’t actually get this choice, but it’s the framing I’ve heard from American Airlines a lot over the years. So, too, has this flight attendant apparently.
When I’ve written about American Airlines flying around with broken first class seats the pushback I get is, did you want us to delay the flight to fix the seat? What about cancel the flight?
That suggests this is a one-off – that flying with a broken seat happens one time. We’ll do it, and fix it when we land. But that’s not how this actually worse, as I pointed out an Airbus A321 broken first class seat that was flying around that way for weeks.
At some point it becomes just an excuse, and the right answer is yes – take the delay – fix the problem at the first possible instance. Otherwise it doesn’t get fixed for weeks, and passengers continue to suffer. Seats get taken out of service. That means passengers who planned to fly don’t. It means passengers don’t get upgraded. The whole image and brand value of the airline suffers.
It’s no longer a selfish choice to take a delay for your own comfort – although the airline isn’t providing the service they sold and should comp the transportation if this happens – it’s a selfless act for the benefit of future passengers who would fly in that seat, and future passengers who would fly in other broken seats too. And it puts down a marker that it’s time to clean up the cabins. That problems do need to be fixed overnight at a minimum. Air travel isn’t the New York City subway system, and airlines shouldn’t be allowed to become pre-privatization Air India either.
In Nice its likely AA just has contract maintenance. They will come out an just defer the broken tray table. Good chance they dont have the parts needed there. So it will still not be fixed and you will take an hour delay to accomplish nothing.
Two thoughts. Why can’t the parents switch seats with their kid so the kid has a working table. Second, so may of these planes sit overnight at hub cities like Philadelphia or Chicago or Dallas That’s the perfect time to fix and issue like this. I hate when I have a an early AM flight and the plane has been there for 8-12 hours and we get delayed by a mechanical issue.m, which I’m sure was reported the day before.
Or be an adult, swap with your 6 year old if the table is critical to.them and go on.
Yes, fix the plane.
Signed,
Everyone
My husband is an aircraft mechanic. If we were in that situation, why not just try to fix it? One problem, most hand tools are effectively defined as checked baggage and not available.
Why not at least keep a small tool kit in a secure area of the plane and attempt a fix?
I’m imagining for a moment what it would look like if a similar situation had developed on Singapore Airlines. Many of us reading this blog have likely flown them many times on business, and are aware of the incredible focus on customer satisfaction. My personal speculation is that they would have offered the customer either of two options (their choice): 1) Remain in their assigned seat with the broken table, and Singapore Airlines would award them a significant gift of KrisFlyer Miles (and/or Travel Credits); or 2) Elect to fly out on the next available flight (if later that day, to include lounge access. If to fly the next day, to include vouchers for overnight accommodation and meals). Oh, and by the way, that tray table would be fixed nearly immediately.
It would not be a fair question to ask a passenger, particularly if everyone around them would hear the Q&A. I’d tell them to fix the seat or move me and the kid to other seats which likely wasn’t possible. That’s a 787 and the hardware for the tray tables in economy are pretty standard. Nice should have parts for it. If it was the seat, that’s another story. Generally seats take real time to fix and often only the hubs have the tools and parts to fix a seat.
@Jill Pruett I think you’re husband will tell you that there would be a union problem if the flight crew went to fix the tray table themselves. For the airline to leave tools for flight crew would likely be a no-no.
Between an adult and a six year old kid, one table should suffice. Bonus is that it’s unlikely for the kid to knock things off.
If I were by myself, for a table, I’d risk delaying the flight because assuming parts are available, the repair might take around 5-10 mins.
Plus, a delay of 30 mins can be largely made up over a 10 hour flight.
If the product isn’t fully functional, the greedy airlines should be required to offer a full refund to the travel party and still fly the travel party to their ticketed destination (even if it involves a reroute onto other airlines, if that is what the impacted travel party wants). With that, the airlines will have to better internalize the cost of delivering a shoddy product by failing to provide a fully functional product to the customers whose reasonable expectations include a fully functioning clean seat and tray table.
This is what I do:
Can I live with it? Yes?
Then don’t say a word until AFTER takeoff.
Once in the air, flag an attendant, point out the problem, and request the issue be entered into their log book for repair.
At least this way it has a chance to be addresed
From NCE, wouldn’t this be covered by EU261? It’s a maintenance issue, which is fully within the control of the airline. I’d force them to fix it. Any delay/misconnect means that every pax on the plane would be entitled to compensation + duty of care + rerouting to their destination – all at AA’s expense. They’d probably try to fix it ASAP to avoid paying.
Did AA disclose the fact that the seat came with a broken tray and/or other issues before the passenger purchased their ticket? I doubt it. I have a hunch they advertised a worry free, trouble free experience. Did AA tell the passenger fly now and pay later? I doubt it. I have a hunch AA wanted their money upfront. AA should upgrade the passenger and traveling companion(s), refund their money but let them still fly, or give a boat load of points on the spot. If not, don’t pull out of the gate until the problem is fixed. And if AA publicly blames the passenger for the flight delay, get out the checkbook and be prepared to write a minimum 7-figure number. I’ve avoided AA ever since they blamed the little girl (I think she was 7-years old) for not noticing that a pedophile flight attendant placed his phone in the bathroom to record her. The CEO should be gone and the flight attendant in prison.
The main goal of aircraft maintenance technicians is to provide a safe aircraft for our passengers. The Perks and comfort becomes secondary items. In my many years as a technician, the majority of defects I find in the cabin are passenger induced. From forcing stowbins to close with overstuffed or wrongly positioned baggage to passengers and kids abusing tray tables and armrest. Most of the times these defects are reported from oncoming passengers. As a technician I usually have no time for a permanent fix and will defer it out as long as it’s safe to sit. As a passenger I understand you want everything to work so do I. These are incredibly complex machines that we try to maintain every day. When the aircraft does sit overnight, parts will be researched and if they’re in stock the items will be fixed. If not the defect is updated with parts and will be repaired at the next available station with downtime. I understand your quest for the upgrades, but as a former commercial pilot and a current aircraft technician safety is paramount. Getting people from a to b safely is the goal.
PS. I do not like taking seats out of service on revenue .flights, but it happens. Delaying or canceling a flight are the last options for any type of aircraft maintenance.
I am a 40-year plus aviation maintenance professional and I’d love what I do.
On JL, you’d get profuse apologies, maintenance people immediately on board, if unfixable a generous offer of compensation. On US carriers you get a bitchy attitude from an entitled unskilled laborer and a veiled threat as if it’s your fault. Thanks, unions.
Unions are all about short term wins for their people at the expense of the rest of society. In the end their lives are miserable too because their job is now a constant antagonistic confrontation of their own making.
I get that flight attendants get snarky when faulty equipment is brought to their attention because obviously they are there for in flight safety, but I have flown on COUNTLESS airlines that have broken IFE units, tray tables, seats, windows, you name it. Often they can find you another seat (often BEGRUDGINGLY, but who wants to fly long-haul with broken equipment?) and no it’s not fair to delay the flight, but my question is DON’T THEY INSPECT THINGS? DON’T THEY USE CHECKLISTS? I know airlines like AA just pass the buck as much as they can get away with, but is it so unreasonable to expect that CUSTOMERS not be the ones to find broken equipment?? I think it’s all in line with the corporate “en$hitification” that happens to nearly all large companies, but as many have pointed out, airlines that pride themselves on their service (e.g. Singapore) likely DO use checklists and the like, to avoid this kind of experience.
I would ask the AA staff, how much $$ is thia going to cost AA if its delayed or CX? Then tell them you can take out your lil handheld and comp me X dollars or we can be CX. You choose.
So I would think that the plane arrived in NCE that morning with the broken tray table. Was there no way to get this standard piece of equipment swapped out for a working tray table? So, yes, I would demand that it be fixed or move my party to seats that actually work as they are supposed to work. Knowing this company as well as I do, this broken tray table has been flying around for some time as they are too cheap to fix the damn thing. (I’m plat pro currently but here’s how many $ I’ve spent with AA this year: $0.) Screw that POS airline.
As soon as the FA was notified of the broken tray table, it should have been reported to the Captain. They would be required to make a logbook entry and the maintenance would decide whether 1) to fix it or 2) defer the fix.
If it is a simple fix, like a piece of missing hardware, it gets fixed and the logbook is signed off.
If the fix gets deferred, the tray table probably need to be removed or secured with tape, etc. so that it would be out of the way during a potential emergency evacuation. Then, an MEL item would be added with dispatch and maintenance control being notified. Then the logbook would be signed off.
As a retired Captain with 39 years of experience, my guess is either the prior passenger or the cabin cleaning crew broke the table AND DID NOT REPORT IT. I have seen that situation numerous times per year.
As Jerry said, it’s not up to the passenger OR the flight attendant. The airline’s “contract” with the FAA (FARs) requires that anything found to be broken be addressed prior to the next revenue flight. For one thing, a broken tray table might be a hindrance to an emergency evacuation if it sticks out more than designed, or dangled at knee height.
The flight attendant has been trained to notify the captain, who will make a defect entry in the aircraft logbook, and the have it fixed or deferred. If contract maintenance doesn’t have the part for a tray table it’s normally taped closed and then deferred until they get to a maintenance station.
If a flight attendant knows about a defect, and doesn’t tell the captain, but instead shames a passenger into keeping their mouth shut, they can face legal consequences if the FAA found out.
I would pay big money to be on a flight with all of the people on here when the airline takes a delay to fix a tray table. 1, 2, 3 hour creeping mechanical delay while they try to locate a mechanic and then subsequently a part.
Then the crew goes illegal and the flight waits 6 to 10 hours more for a new crew or the flight cancels.
Still can’t fly with one broken tray table for one passenger??
I can hear the screaming now!
The people on here wanting the delay will be the ones screaming the loudest.
No, you take one for the team and deal with a broken tray table.
So many selfish people cause the problem not the airline.
Besides, who do you think broke the tray table? Another idiot passenger!
I wanted to chime in here and say that I think all airline companies should go through all there aircrafts and see what things need to be fixed because why leave these types of situations no dealt with for weeks, to me that is just pure Incompetance & laziness at the same time. Fix the damn problems
I usually do not use the tray table except at meal time and for drinks so I would not notice this while on the ground. To be honest, seat pitch and seat width are more of a concern to me. I would notify a flight attendant. The attendant being a smart ass would be noted for considering future flights with the airline. I would expect the flight attendant to come up with some accommodation for the meal. K is usually a window seat so changing seats was probably something that would lead to a tantrum by the child.
I would put up with it broken. First, it will probably a more minor inconvenience than it might first seem. Second, other passengers (and me, most likely) have connections in PHL. Do I want me or the others rushing to make connections or get stuck in PHL? I don’t hear good things about PHL.
The NCE-PHL flight is often enough delayed by an hour or more anyway. If you have checked luggage and want to collect on EC 261/2004 because of missed connections due to delays, it is been one of the “better” routes to play with while the route is operating.
It looks to me like that tray table is stuck open. That is a hindrance to an evacuation and needs to be resolved. The solution will most definitely just be to tape it closed and continue, but you can’t defer a broken tray table in the open position and have passengers seated there. It’s a safety issue.
And that brings me to the real issue I see here, and elsewhere in my job dispatching. Too often, people in this industry do not understand what we do here and want to assume things are not problems without actually knowing. Most commonly, that attitude comes from gate agents and flight attendants. The goal is not flights out on time no matter what. Safety is paramount and these things need to be reported to the people who are trained to triage them – flight attendants are not. American isn’t winning any awards for their on-time performance anyway; who cares about one more delay.
Cancel a flight for a broken tray table? They’ll take you out in handcuffs before you try that move. Engine leaking excess oil? Fuel leaking out of the wing? Hydraulic leak out of limits? Done. Cancelled.
In NCE? Not sure the French police would be all to eager to put handcuffs on a passenger complaining about a broken tray table and insisting on a fix of some sort or another.
Reminds me.of a program on a certain US passenger rail carrier that said all would be right or the train wouldn’t leave .. guess how long THAT lasted. It’s as if you were being punished for voicing your issue(s).
Whatever you do, don’t accept a voucher for your inconvenience. AA NEVER LIVES UP TO ITS PROMISES.
On a recent flight to Denver on United where the majority of passengers were making connections, we were delayed for over 90 minutes and then told we had to wait further so the cleaning crew could tidy up the cabin. The cost for all those missed connections had to outweigh the benefits of vacuuming up a few carpet crumbs. Dozens of passengers were outraged. Such stupidity.
Being a retired airline A&P I would say let’s read from the book of MEL & defer it. It’s not a airworthy item and definitely not worth taking a delay over. These things are usually broken by the same people who get upset when you take a delay over it. FLY NAVY they didn’t have tray tables.
Why you gotta crap on the MTA? We get it, you’re a reactionary who hates New York City, but seriously, what did the subway do to you? It’s the best system in the world (really) whereas AA is a glorified LCC.
You’re righ about Air India though – they sucked and probably always will.
I was married to an airport fireman. Horrifying and unbelievable what the passengers and plane experience on a crash
The panic of passengers
, smoke, fire and deformed structure of the plane. Think luggage, seats, wiring, deployed O2 maskd dangling from plastic tubing and confused injured passengers. Any loose items become projected thru the cabin.
Question. Should you take an 18 Wheeler off the road because it’s missing a lugnut?
America should drop all pretenses and drop the stories AA name and rename itself to reflect the UULCC mode of operation.
Do American Airlines a favor and let the name die in peace.
Isom and his cabal have already killed the airline way back when.
Of course they are frm Philadelphia (Shitadelphia)
I just had this exact same situation happen on a United flight. We were already delayed 90 minutes when I heard my name called to the counter. The agent said the tray table in my business class seat was broken. I asked if this is what the delay was and he said “yes”. I told him it’s fine, I will deal with the broken tray table instead of further delays.
I’t really isn’t that big of an issue unless you like sitting at the airport for delays.
Something similar happened to me on American airlines flight out of Charlotte last week. The tray was functionable but would not store properly. A mechanic was called but he could not fix it. Instead he just taped it down. The flight was delayed a few minutes but I think there were other issues at work as well.
If a company puts it in writing then they should provide the service they advertise.
From the AA app; “American is committed to providing a positive travel experience for all our customers.”
This is obviously a negative experience for this passenger.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s your first time or you have flown hundreds of times with them. You are paying for the entire service, every time you fly. The tray table is part of that service because it is on the airplane. If it wasn’t on the airplane , you would have to pay extra to have one made available.
Most airlines have your money way in advance before you fly, however,
IF you’re entitled to a refund you still have to wait another seven days or more. If by law they were forced to provide refunds (not credits)on the spot, It would change the customer service dramatically because it involves THEIR money.
Each broken element (window shade, tray, power plug, etc.) should be tagged with a bright green sticker with the date it was reported.
Anyone who gets a “green seat” automatically gets a $10 food item for free PER STICKER – or – they can find someone willing to trade – or they can request a mechanic (maximum delay 30 minutes to inspect and fix if possible). The choice is made to them over the PA. All outlined in a “Green Seat” brochure placed on the seat at the end of the cleaning process between each flight.
Here’s a 5-minute fix. Offer the passenger $50 to agree to sit there. If he says no, open the bidding but only to others. The original passenger will likely accept, or someone else will take $100 or less. It works only with an item of inconvenience, and would not be acceptable with a safety-related item or with a real (literal) pain in the back like a very broken seat.