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Subscribe to RSSA Virgin America flight was delayed several hours Wednesday night after the accidental deployment of an emergency slide.
"A slide was inadvertently deployed by a maintenance worker during a routine check on a Virgin America Airbus A320 aircraft at the gate at JFK," airline spokesperson Abby Lunardini told msnbc.com via e-mail. No one was on board at the time.
Kate Gardiner, a New York-based journalist booked on the flight, said the snafu resulted in a lengthy delay. "Between rolling it up, finding a new air canister and filling out all of the paperwork ... four hours at JFK," she said.
Virgin America Flight 29 was scheduled to depart JFK for San Francisco at 6:55 p.m. According to Virgin America’s website, the flight left JFK at 10:53 p.m. and arrived in San Francisco at 2:29 a.m.
The 110 affected passengers were issued a $50 credit and a $10 food voucher, Lunardini said.
The pilot, Gardiner added, kept passengers apprised of the situation.
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Oooooooops
Exact same thing happened to me four years ago on an American flight from Miami to San Francisco. Flight attendant forgot to disarm the service side door in the front galley so when they tried to service the plane before the next flight it discharged the slide. We had to wait 3 hours before they determined they couldn't put it back together, then they had to go and get us a new plane which took another 3 hours. Except with American we were not given any food vouchers or even a "sorry for the delay". Typical American Airlines.
Did anyone see an air waitress and a couple beers rolling down it? Also..what can you get for $10 bucks at an airport for dinner?
a silly looking one with a lisp?
Caught with your slide hanging out....
Welcome to Airbus, where anything is possible! LOL!
$50 credit for a 4 hour delay? $10 bucks for food? Wow, that doesn't do much.
That's 60 bucks!! Not like the flight cancelled. It was "delayed". Typical response by someone who thinks the airline industry has this endless source of compensation for everything and anything.
$50 credit for a 4 hour delay? $10 bucks for food? Wow, that doesn't do much.
What did you expect? Get a plane for free or Bjob from Flight attendant?
Didn't the maintenance guy deactivate the slide bar??? The Airbus planes are very tricky when it comes to arming and disarming the door!!! OOOOPSSS! HEADS will definately roll....the crew who was on the plane should have disarmed the slide!!! That's why they tell us in training" ALWAYS CHECK and DOUBLE CHECK The doors before opening, or when leaving the plane."
Costs about $20,000 anytime they do that... It's not something that's "repacked" on site. It's got to be reconditioned/remanufactured... lots of times they dont' have another slide-pack sitting around and the delay involves flying one in.
USMC 68
I agree it isn't much but at least they got something. Many times the airline won't even give a good reason for delay,they just keep putting you off.
Now I don't know how much they think their time is worth, but they should have coughed up a $100 credit voucher and at least $25 food voucher especially with how much food cost in a airport!
10 bucks for something to eat? Interesting how your VALUE for FOOD changes with someone else is paying for it. Most line up at the pizza or burger joints when it's their OWN MONEY! And, a $100.00 bucks for compensation? Really! Pull up an airfare on them right now. I can get a $120.00 one way. So, they should GIVE AWAY their revenue on the flight for a ............DELAY???.......I think NOT.
They should have coughed up more than that, especially to customers who obviously missed their connecting flights. With all the * "new fees" (sorry we have to charge you $5 for me to hit the print button for your boarding pass) they can afford to comp and upgrade for issues like this one.
*Generalized
NO, actually they cant afford it. John. They havent shown a profit for a long time. Look it up, they're a struggling airline trying to offer good service.
Virgin America reported a $270 million loss from August 2007, when it began operations, through the first two quarters of 2010.[24] The airline reported its first quarterly profit, of $7.5 million, in the third quarter of 2010.[25]
WOW...........a full $10.00 food voucher....Wherever will they spend that much? Ohhhhhh, forgot, one coke $5.00, one chips $5.00. Now wasn't that easy and all that for only four hours on the tarmac!!!!!!!
COKE???.....cheap people dont buy drinks! It's, "can I have some water with that!"
Wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the guy that deployed that slide! Verrryyy spendy to replace it and re-install another one. And actually, it was nice that Virgin America gave vouchers....they didn't have to do so, but they made an attempt to pacify passengers for the delay. Hey folks...sometimes accidents do happen, such as this, and just deal with it.....not like it was done purposely! And I feel sorry for the guy that deployed the slide...he didn't follow protocol and will most certainly have this incident placed in his employee file.
Why is this even being reported as news??!? Who cares?!?
I care...I was interested in the story. All news doesn't have to be about political candidates and protesters in the streets.