A couple of weeks back I flew with American Airlines for the first time. And for the last time, too. I travelled together with my friend from Frankfurt to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, we were seated between two other passengers in the two middle seats in a row of four. When we took off I realized that tons of rows were half-empty, with only one or two passengers in many of them. So why would they squeeze all four of us in one?
But things got worse when I tried to lean back and relax a bit: My backrest was broken and wouldn’t go back. And so was my friend’s. The passengers next to us had no problems; their’s worked fine. Our’s wouldn’t move an inch. We asked a flight attendant for help, and she said she’d be back in a minute, but was never to be seen again.
Next, we wanted to turn on the individual flight entertainment units on the back of the seat. We pushed every single button over and over – nothing. While passengers in front of us were already watching cartoons and movies, our screens stayed pitch black. Nothing seemed to work on this plane – which doesn’t make you feel very secure, of course.
The next big challenge was lunch because my tray was broken, too. It was hanging down on one side and I had to hold it up with my knees while I ate.
So, all in all I spent 9 long and dull hours sitting upright with no chance of getting any sleep, with nothing to watch and nothing to do – and food spilled on my clothes because that tray kept falling down. What a flight!
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Why didn't you just switch seats if there were so many available?
Bull bull if there was empty seats, why bother in a prison cell
Maybe the first attendant didn't return, but there had to have been another one since you were served lunch. You could have easily asked her to move, especially since your tray table was broken.
I get the impression that the OP prefers to whine instead of doing something about their situation.
If seats are available, they are obligated to give you one that is functional. All you had to do was ask to move to one of the (many) empty seats.
Again, a bullsh*t story! No seat has that many broken things and even if it did, any person with even the lowest IQ would just take another seat and not sitting there for 8 hours. You are worst then Muenchausen. ( He was the world best liar telling stories in middle age Germany)
FAA doesn't allow aircraft to fly if they have broken seats unless they are deferred and then the seats are well marked unuseable i.e. no bottom cushion, straps across the seat or a trash bag over it. I don't understand why OP didn't just get up and move?? Well, yea, I do understand why……….
This seat seems to have been working fine safety-wise. Having no recline ability or no tray table usually doesn't make a seat unusable.
But yeah, the OP should have just switched seats…
Why didn't you just move to a different seat?