AN American Airlines plane has taken a U-turn mid-air and landed abruptly due to a mechanical issue.
One apparent customer claimed that workers were holding a cracked door shut when the nightmarish flight returned to Los Angeles Friday.
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The American Airlines flyer took to X to share her experience once the flight grounded.
She said: “American Airlines had to deplane us, and my boss heard the flight attendants say that there was a crack in the door and they had to physically hold the door closed while they turned the plane back.”
The U.S. Sun reached out to AA for comment on the post, and got confirmation that the flight to Mexico City returned due to a “possible mechanical issue.”
A spokesperson said the aircraft landed safely and taxied to the gate, before departing hours later.
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“We never want to disrupt our customer’s travel plans and apologize for the inconvenience,” the statement said.
AA did not comment on workers reportedly holding the plane door shut.
The flight chaos came after workers for the major US airline were seen hurling a wheelchair down the ramp of a plane.
Video footage of the disturbing incident went viral on social media, causing AA to launch an investigation.
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The video, uploaded to TikTok on Sunday, shows one worker pushing a wheelchair down the ramp of the plane to another worker below.
It can be seen hurtling down the ramp at speed before flipping over the edge and crashing to the ground.
“After I saw them do this and laugh with the first two wheelchairs I had to get it on film,” user Haeley Dyrdahl wrote in the video caption.
“That is not what I’d call ‘handling with care’ for someone’s mobility device.”
The footage goes on to show the worker at the bottom walking over to the wheelchair, picking it up and loading it on a caddy.
Viewers were quick to tag American Airlines in the video and call out the behavior as unacceptable.
“These chairs cost upwards of $3,000 plus. They aren’t easily replaceable and insurance only covers new chairs every 5 years,” one user commented.
“More people need to see this. The right people need to see this @American Airlines,” another user said.
“As a wheelchair user, seeing this will stop me from ever traveling out of fear this will happen @American Airlines,” said someone else.
American Airlines issued a statement following the traction Dyrdahl’s video gained.
“We recognize how important it is to support the independence of customers with disabilities by ensuring the proper care of mobility devices throughout their journey with us,” the statement read.
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“This visual is deeply concerning and we are gathering more details so that we can address them with our team. We will continue to work hard to improve our handling of assistive devices across our network.”
American Airlines also said that they will be educating and training their employees on moving accessibility aids in addition to installing wheelchair movers and other hardware.
