billbarilko

YYZ to ORD >>> getting ready to start decent and smoke starts coming in from vents into american eagle plane cabin - metal buring smell. passengers in panic and screaming...poor flight attendant does an admirable job considering it was her 3rd week on the job (yep!).

smoke clears and things contained and we land - full stop on runway with fire trucks all around - i assume they were monitoring us to see next steps. all good we assume (no communication from pilots!?!) and we taxi in with firetrucks escorting.

finally we begin to deplane and everyone just happy we are on the ground. get to gate agent as we are ~3 hours late - no envoy of AA staff to meet us - many missed connections, including myself. another hour and finally a GA provides me with a 12 dollar voucher and direction to the shuttle with a voucher to a comfort inn - bed bugs much?

paid in J (ORD>LHR>AMS)...missed the LHR and bumped from 777 to 767 this am (fine). no J seat available from LHR to AMS (ok, short flight, i can live with that). no bags and change of clothes (not happy but I've camped before). A couple millions miles has me pre-conditioned to roll with the flow.

BUT, what is my recourse? I told my story to Flagship here in ORD and she is trying to sort my bags and basically pushing me to customer service on the web.

while typing this - flagship lounge person calls me over and AA 90 to LHR has just cancelled. (is this really happening. serenity now, serenity now in my best Constanza voice). so being re-routed on AA 46 tonight to LHR. I am at the point of throwing my arms up in the air...

...any and all advice welcome as I just want AA to make it right, reach out and try and show they care. uggh!!!

rjw242

Wow, sounds like a harrowing experience. It seems likely that AA will offer some kind of proactive compensation (miles or a voucher), but honestly I'd just be thankful to be in one piece.

billbarilko

agree 100%. i have had one other emergency landing in my 2.25 m miles but the smell of burnt metal took this to another level of scary. after the initial screaming with the smoke in the cabin, folks kinda were in resignation and praying mode while descending - it was a long and eerie 20 minutes - pretty sure even I said a prayer

arollins

Wow, sounds scary to be involved in something like that. A will be coming back shortly to offer some type of compensation, but at this point I suggest best to contact the EXP desk and try to get accommodation on another flight that has space availability to your end destination. If AMS is final destination, see about availability ORD-PHL and then PHL-AMS on AA204, granted AA204 is operated on a 757, no lie flat seat, but will get you in around 9am tomorrow. Otherwise, your other options are via LHR on AA or BA and then connecting to AMS via BA.
Good luck, and thank your lucky stars, someone was watching over everyone. Smoke and burning metal smell on a plane is not a pleasurable experience.

Uzzar

The pilots never said anything at all? That sounds strange at best.
Sorry for your troubles, hope they can get you on your way soon. Will be very interested to hear what actually happened with the plane.

billbarilko

no communication was brutal - the flight attendant was on the phone a few times with them, and then running around the cabin checking specific things. she basically relayed to me (seat 2a) that they did not know what was going on. The pilot (he) did mention the fire trucks and we were going to deplane by jet-bridge but nothing more than that!?!

...still at the flagship here and looks like I'm going thru LHR this eve. I'll follow this up with any info once AA gets in touch - in particular, I want to know what was up with that plane!

travelgeek1197

Lack of communication, that sucks. However, during that type of experience the pilots only care about one thing: figuring out what is causing the smoke, checking to see that they have full control and systems are operational and at the same time making the split second decision on best course of action (closet airport if necessary).

In all fairness, I know a lot about this kind of scenario (not at liberty to disclose how). Example of what would cause such an event but not really be a threat to the aircraft would be a burnt out AC-DC converter. They tend to burn fast, and then just smoke a lot. But if you are the crew, you don't know there is no more fire, all you know is there is smoke and you got to get her on the ground safely (especially if over the pond). But, hindsight is you could have easily continued all the way to your destination if you can deal with a little smoke residue / smell as the fire was quick, is done, and no major system was left affected.

Glad your experience ended with you simply being inconvenienced and maybe a bit shaken.

~TG

pa3lsvt

Not sure what recourse you expect from AA? Regardless of the situation on landing (and that sure sounds like a harrowing experience), you were already the victim of WX related IRROPS before you even left YYZ. AA should have done a better job at ORD but this seems like par for the "new AA" service level.

As for the landing:
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate - that's the mantra for the pilots in that priority order during an emergency. And on the communication rung, pax are well below ATC, emergency services, and flight crew.

I would rather the pilots get us on the ground safely than take their concentration off the task at hand to play Capt. Obvious ("We have an emergency and will be landing immediately" is already clearly the plan). Once on the ground, a word from the cockpit would be nice but I'll take a "good landing" all day long regardless, and it seems everyone walked away on this one.

This story also shows why even the most experienced of travelers should remember to pack one day's worth of clothes, meds, toiletries, etc. in a carry-on bag when checking bags. Never know when your bags will be separated from you.

JDiver

As stated clearly by pa3lsvt, the pilots' priorities are "Aviate (fly the plane), navigate (get it to the most appropriate destination safely and expeditiously), communicate (with its own sub-priorities as there's time to spare)."

Communication to passengers is nice, not at all crucial, when the real issue is getting an aircraft with evident burning down from FL 300 to a safe landing while attempting to troubleshoot and stop the burning. And communicating the emergency, securing clearances, etc. are far more important than communicating with passengers. (An experienced cabin crew will attempt to fill in here by reassuring passengers as they give any necessary instructions.)

Glad this incident resolved well. It reflects on the constant and thorough training the pilots receive.

Thank you, pa3lsvt, travelgeek1197, for adding good stuff.

rickg523

Screaming always helps...

Mikerascan

Just one more reason for high quality noise cancelling headphones.... :-)

akcae

Firstly, glad you are OK and the plane landed and deplaned with everyone safely in the terminal.

If the current plan is AA46, I'd say beware -- there's a thread here about that particular flight being chronically delayed, sometimes into the wee hours. I'd be actively seeking an alternate plan, or at the very least a contingency for a SUPER-late arrival at LHR.

Annalisa12

I've been on a flight that had a fire onboard HNL to SYD. The not knowing was the worst. Never have I heard the announcement "assistance required in the forward cabin" and trolleys get thrown in to the galley and FA's running full speed up the aisles as we sat in black darkness.

The compensation is that you are ok.