PHL

....Because they bought Basic Economy.

It seems that despite the click bait headline, the flight attendants did eventually move them and that the AA policy to space passengers out and block middle seats when possible was published the same day this incident allegedly occurred. So, I'm not sure why it even became a story if the passengers did spread out - eventually. Were they seated close together for a period of time before logic prevailed?

https://news.yahoo.com/american-airl...154308554.html

SpinOn2

We all know why it became a story, because the media loves to publish airline fake news all the time or exaggerate things to get clicks. Now when there is far far less to do, I am sure it is even more of a problem.

Nobody is forcing 11 people to cram that close together. Even if the seat map officially had it that way at the time, they are not going to stop them from spreading out at least a few seats away.

rumboj

You do realize that you are exacerbating the problem by bringing the same clickbait story and headline here. And you did it for the exact same reason...to drum up attention online.

In that regard, how are you any different from the media house responsible for the headline and article?

PHL

Because this is a forum about AA, and any news that pops up out there.

Maybe there have been other similar experiences people have seen to share.

Or maybe it’s worth discussing why the passengers were initially refused the option to spread out, supposedly using the lame reason that moving from one economy seat to another would be an upgrade.

Im surprised that the captain wouldn’t have wanted that anyway for weight and balance.

JDiver

It might have been for reasons given, but if so they changed their mind. This was on 24 March, the same day AA disseminated their new expanded distance policy. I doubt the cabin crew boarded knowing that policy. I’m not apologizing for AA, but let’s try to look at it without the bias I feel was cast upon this by Mother Jones. Further, as issues about moving vs not allowing passengers to move have come up before:

Particularly empty aircraft, as well as some models, are more sensitive to weight and balance issues. That means in many cases passengers may have to be moved to, or forward or aft of, the aircraft’s center of gravity for optimum flight control,

Long Zhiren

I appreciate the concern of exacerbating the problem.

However, I also greatly appreciate that the reply included a link to the clickbait story. What's worse is Yahoo provides no means to comment on quite a few garbage stories like that. We need to shine light on these cockroaches, and make it clear as daylight to as many people as possible.
Usually, when I mention that a certain newsfeed is garbage, the moderators delete my message.

steve64

Kinda the same point I think JDiver was making ...
The "balance" in "weight & balance" isn't about evenly distributing the passengers throughout the cabin.
It's about balancing the weight of everything placed onboard the plane against the plane's inherent balance.
This is particularly problematic on lightly loaded flights because you often don't have enough passengers/bags/freight/mail to shift around for a proper balance.

An old data point since AA has retired the MD-80, but it's the easiest to try and explain (I've used this in many W&B posts in the past)...

An empty MD-80 is out of balance for takeoff and landing. It is too "tail heavy" Why ?? One of the heaviest things the plane has to carry around (its engines) are mounted near the tail.
Put a passenger into every seat and the same MD-80 is still out of balance. It is now too "nose heavy". Why ?? The wings are not centered along the length of the fuselage, they're mounted a bit farther back to offset the weight of the engines. But a passenger in every seat has more weight ahead of the wings than is needed to offset the engine weight. So you have to balance the flight using bags/freight/mail.

Keep in mind that most of the MD-80 cargo capacity is also ahead of the wings, so on very full flights, it's possible (but extremely rare) that you run out of room in the rear cargo hold.
Lightly loaded flights are worse. There are not enough passengers and cargo to offset the engine weight. The rule of thumb if you have less than 40-50 passengers is to fill up First Class and load all cargo into the forward hold. This usually did the trick, but there have been times (I was once an AA Load Control (W&B) Agent) I have needed the rampers to load sand bags at departure time.

diver858

With only 11 passengers on board, it is entirely possible cargo (and likely fuel) weighed more than the passengers.

CPRich

"The captain" doesn't do the W&B calculations nor does "the captain" just decide where he/she wants pax to sit for W&B reasons.

PHL

I am aware there's an entire dispatch team that does those preflight tasks.

And we are all aware that the Captain has final authority over the safe operation of the aircraft. I have been on more than one flight over the years that was lightly loaded and the Captain was the one who explained why he was asking some of us to relocate. Perhaps dispatch made that call, or maybe he was the one who felt the re-distributing payload was needed and, after consulting with the dispatcher, made the call.

CALMSP

certainly fuel. 11 pax only weigh 2,240 (give or take a few lbs. depending on when AA moves to summer weights). But regardless, just a poor handling with AA, even with the FA's. And if this is a 738, there is no way this was out of the envelope for balance.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

On my flights the GAs are spacing paxs out, calling them up to the podium to get new BPs. AA is also blocking row 1 of F and only putting one pax per each side of an F row. Needless to say with current flight loads this is easy to do. There may be weight and balance issue considerations.

mileshound

This is great but it makes my head hurt.

Lux Flyer

[QUOTE=MiamiAirport AA is also blocking row 1 of F and only putting one pax per each side of an F row. Needless to say with current flight loads this is easy to do.[/QUOTE]

On the A319 I flew this morning, that was most certainly not the case. Nor with the A321 I was on 10 days ago

mvoight

FIrst, they were assigned seating by a computer, not by someone physically assigning seats
Then, it is possible the flight attendants were not award of the new policy which had just started that day.
Yes, if you buy a BASIC you do not get a seating choice.
People like to whine to draw attention
In the end, they were allowed to move