American Airlines is dealing with a mysterious case of loose airline seats. A third incident of passenger seats becoming loose on a plane has been reported. American Airlines has grounded several aircrafts as they investigate the issue and try to find if any more planes have unbolted chairs.
There have been three reported cases of seats becoming loose on American Airlines flights within the past week.
On Monday, Flight 443 to Miami took off from New York's John. F. Kennedy Airport and quickly turned back after loose seats were discovered on the plane. On Saturday, Flight 685 from Boston to Miami had to make an emergency landing at JFK, according to ABC.
Now, the New York Post is reporting that another American Airlines flight from Vail, Colorado to Dallas, Texas also had issues with loose seats on September 26.
No passengers were hurt in the incidents and passengers were moved to different seats when the issue was discovered, but the seats could have potentially become projectiles and caused serious damage.
American Airlines is dealing with recent labor issues. The airline declared bankruptcy in November. Recently, hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed due to maintenance issues and pilots calling out sick in high numbers.
A spokesperson said the incidents are not related to these issues.
According to the Post, the FAA said the two planes that landed at JFK "had recently undergone maintenance during which the seats had been removed and reinstalled."
A contractor had worked on the seats, but American Airlines claim that this isn't a contractor issue as their own mechanics inspected the seats as well.
"We had determined there was an issue with those seats," American Airlines spokesman Bruce Hicks told NBC. "American maintenance had worked on them as well. In fact, they were the last to handle them, so this isn't American versus contractor. American has some of the best mechanics in the entire world, and they worked on these, too."
American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan told Reuters that an initial investigation showed "that there could be a possible issue with a certain model of seats and how they fit into the tracking used to secure the seats".
Eight 757's have been grounded as the airline inspects them to see if they have seat issues.
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