Going on the wrong flight is an epic personal fail. A carrier sending the wrong plane should be on a whole other level of fail.
It was recently confirmed that American Airlines sent an uncertified plane on a long-haul flight over the Pacific to Hawaii.
In a report by CNN, AA spokesperson Casey Norton relayed "someone on the ground" became aware of the error after AA Flight 31, an Airbus A321S aircraft not certified to travel over the Pacific, had already left LAX August 31.
"Hawaii-bound aircraft are required by the FAA to have extra fire suppression equipment in the cargo hold and extra medical equipment on board, including oxygen -- since there are no points in between for an aircraft to divert to if there is an on board emergency," the news agency said. "American Airlines said the correct aircraft, the A321-H, was just put into service on August 18th."
An unnamed AA pilot had told CNN that someone "screwed up big-time somewhere."
American Airlines emphasized that it acted quickly once the blunder was reported.
"When we realized what happened, we immediately notified the FAA and began a thorough review of our procedures," Norton explained. "Already, we have revised our software to properly identify the correct aircraft are operating the correct routes."
"Whether the plane was going to make it there was never a question," Norton told the BBC, pointing out that both aircrafts had the same engine, range, fuel tanks, and basic safety features. The main difference was that A321-H had more medical supplies and safety features.
"All I can say is, thank God they didn't have an emergency on that flight," the unnamed AA pilot told CNN.
While it was not clear how the wrong aircraft got to fly out, it "might have to do something with new equipment changes on the route," The Verge noted.
"American only started using its A321s on the LA to Honolulu route a couple of weeks before the incident - it previously used Boeing aircraft for the flight," it added.
The said error was first reported by Brian Sumers, an aviation blogger. He had noted that the mistake was identified mid-flight and that a decision was reached to continue the journey.
"The return flight was canceled and the aircraft was ferried back," he wrote in his blog.
According to The Washington Post, Sumers had learned about the error from pilots chatting about the issue online anonymously.
"It's really rare," Sumers noted. "Something like this, when you talk to airline people, they say 'How does this happen? This can't happen.'"
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