Passengers Panic After American Airlines Plane’s Rocky Departure from Logan

The airline is being criticized for how it handled a diverted flight on Sunday night.

American Airlines

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American Airlines is being criticized by passengers for how it handled a Miami-bound flight’s rocky departure from Logan Airport on Sunday night.

According to the Boston Globe, people aboard Flight 1086 reported seeing flames come out of the plane’s left wing engine, as well as smoke in the cabin. Airline officials say the incident was simply a mechanical problem, but passengers are telling a more alarming tale.

Prior to making an emergency landing at the JFK Airport in New York, two loud bangs shook the plane. Passengers said that the pilot announced that an oil leak onto the engine was caused by a clogged filter.

Panic ensued as the cabin filled with smoke and the situation was made worse when the oxygen masks didn’t deploy and people were asked to get into the “brace position.”

“There was a lot of crying and screaming,” Drew Nederpelt, a business executive aboard the flight, told the Globe. “One of the flight attendants was literally shaking and sobbing, and we looked at each other like, ‘Somebody else has to speak through the PA.’ ”

Thankfully, the plane landed safely, but many people on board were unhappy with how American Airlines handled the incident. One passenger claims that the airline only handed out sandwiches and drinks to console their customers.

“It’s just the way American Airlines handled the whole thing, like they were just washing their hands and saying, ‘We’re not responsible,'” Diego Romero told the Globe.

An American Airlines spokesman said that the company apologizes “for the inconvenience” and that its staff will be reaching out to the passengers.