American Airlines admits flying wrong plane to Hawaii

HONOLULU, Hawaii – American Airlines is under fire for flying the wrong plane from Los Angeles to Hawaii last month.

The airline admitted that on August 31, instead of an A321H plane, it flew an A321S, which does not have the proper authorization to fly such a long distance over water, according to aviation blogger Brian Sumers.

He first learned about the major gaffe while hanging out on aviation message boards.

The Honolulu-bound plane used did not have ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards) certification.

It also did not have extra oxygen and a fire suppression canister mandated for long hauls, according to the Washington Post.

Flying the plane to Hawaii violated Federal Aviation Administration regulations.

The airline says it discovered the mistake shortly after takeoff but made the decision to continue the flight as the plane was not a safety hazard.

However, when it landed it made the return flight back without passengers.

‘Immediately when we realize what happened, we notified the FAA and we are working and fully cooperating with them,’ spokesman Casey Norton told the Washington Post.

‘We also have an ongoing, thorough review of our policies and procedures.’

Sumers said that anonymous airline industry employees on message boards were aghast at the mix-up.

‘It’s really rare,’ he said. ‘Something like this, when you talk to airline people, they say ‘How does this happen? This can’t happen?”

American Airlines did not shed light on how the snafu happened but told the outlet that it immediately upgraded its software so that the correct plane is matched to the correct route.