American forced to cancel 1,000 flights for inspections

DALLAS -- American Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights Wednesday, more than one-third of its schedule, as it spent a second straight day inspecting the wiring on some of its jets -- the same issue that caused it to scrub hundreds of flights two weeks ago.

The nation's biggest airline had already canceled 460 flights Tuesday, stranding thousands of travelers. Federal inspectors found problems with wiring work done two weeks ago, although the airline says passenger safety was never jeopardized.

Airline officials said the flights would have averaged more than 100 passengers, meaning that more than 100,000 travelers could have been left scrambling to book new flights.

Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said the cancellations could continue beyond Wednesday as the airline works on its fleet of 300 MD-80 jets. By Wednesday morning, only 30 of the planes were back in service.

American uses the MD-80s mostly on midrange flights, particularly from hub airports in Dallas and Chicago. Wagner said 208 of Wednesday's cancellations would occur at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and 138 at Chicago O'Hare.

Las Vegas avoided much of the chaos because most American traffic in and out of McCarran International Airport is on 757s, a type of jet not subject to the grounding order.

American spokesman Tim Wagner said there were seven cancellations Wednesday at McCarran, four to Dallas-Fort Worth and one each to Los Angeles, Chicago and St. Louis.

Not counting regional flights on American Eagle, American typically has 21 flights daily from Las Vegas. The canceled MD-80 flights represent about 910, or 25 percent, of the approximately 3,500 seats available daily for departure from Las Vegas on American, based on American's description of its fleet makeup at the airport.

Wagner said the airline was able to accommodate most passengers on alternate flights. He said the airline would pay for hotel rooms, meals and ground transportation for customers who couldn't find another flight.

"I think there will be additional compensation above and beyond those things as well," Wagner said.

At New York's LaGuardia Airport, hundreds of passengers stood in a check-in line. The airline offered free doughnuts, coffee and orange juice, but there were few takers.

Bishop Bernard Jordan, a Harlem minister, was in a first-class line trying to catch a flight to Atlanta, where he was scheduled to preach Wednesday night.

"It would have been good to know in advance," said Jordan, who said he has 4 million frequent-flier miles with American and flies to Atlanta every other week. "I would have booked with another airline."

Review-Journal writer Benjamin Spillman contributed to this report.