American Airlines cancels more flights

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- American Airlines, the nation's largest airline, canceled 132 flights on Thursday.

Dozens of American Airline passengers were frustrated and angry Thursday morning after flights were canceled out of LAX do to safety inspections.

Click in the Eyewitness News story window above to watch Subha Ravindhran's report from LAX, including interviews with upset travellers.

"I just kind of walked in and I printed out my ticket and I thought, 'huh?' I said, 'Ma'am, this sounds a little bit strange here.' And she said, 'Well, that's because your flight's leaving tomorrow," said Chris Myers.

"We're just hoping American Airlines will pay for everything because we can't stay another day here," said Catherine Hansen.

Pam Murphy landed Thursday morning from Australia. When she got in she found out her flight home to Chicago had been canceled and rescheduled for Friday.

"We have been travelling for like 14, 16, 18 hours now and we can't get to Chicago," said Murphy.

After grounding 300 flights on Wednesday, another 132 American Airlines flights were canceled across the nation on Thursday. The airlines is in the process of checking wiring harnesses in their MD-80 jets.

Delta announced Thursday that they are doing inspections as well and canceled 133 flights. The FAA has been cracking down on airlines ever since Southwest Airlines was fined last month for missing inspections.

Experts say it's simply a sign that the safety system is working.

"These are inspections that are done so far in advance of when there's anything critical, that it is the safety system working as it should, not unsafe airplanes being pulled off the line," said John Nance, ABC News aviation consultant.

Safer or not, many travelers at LAX were not happy to get the run around, but others say it's worth the headaches.

"I'm glad that they're checking them because I want to be safe, but at the same time my flight's delayed," said Shannon Pearson.

The inspections come almost three weeks after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a check of all U.S. airlines' maintenance records.

 

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