AA dealing with more cancellations at MIA

MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Fla. (WSVN) -- American Airlines passengers continue to have to endure more travel disruptions at Miami International Airport.

Some flights have been canceled even after passengers have boarded and taken their seats, as the airline continues to take planes out of service for safety checks and fixes.

American Airlines passengers like Carla Powell found themselves back at the airport Friday morning trying to rebook canceled flights. "Well, it's frustrating," she said, "but I would imagine necessary. I don't know what the delay was, or why it's necessary. There were a lot of people inconvenienced."

Powell's flight to Haiti was canceled Thursday while passengers were already aboard the aircraft. American Airlines passengers across the nation experienced similar situations.

The airline canceled dozens of flights to fix seats that could come loose mid-flight. It has already happened on three flights, two of them Miami-bound. A passenger on one of those flights sent pictures to 7News.

The airline originally said it was clamps that attached seats to tracks that were the problem but now say wear, poor design and soda spilled into the tracks that caused pins designed to hold seats down to pop up. The airline changed itineraries to fix the planes.

As man as 50 flights were canceled Thursday, 54 canceled Friday, inconveniencing thousands of passengers. Regan Gorman was among them. "There's a huge lineup in order to be able to get hotel vouchers and everything, and we're travelling with a group of 30, so there's a great deal of complexity."

American is saying the airline is not only fixing the problem, but taking additional precautions as well. David Campbell, American Airlines VP of Safety said, "Working with our engineering team, working with the FAA, we quickly came up with an additional locking mechanism that will add another level of redundancy to ensure the plungers stay in place."

American says they hope to finish inspecting and fixing all the seats on their remaining airplanes by the end of the day, Friday.

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