An American Airlines flight heading from Washington, D.C. to Key West, Florida diverted to Baltimore after a possible bird strike. The plane departed from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport slightly before 1 p.m. and was scheduled to head to Key West International Airport, according to an American Airlines statement. Instead, the plane landed at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport around 2 p.m. "The aircraft landed without incident and taxied to the gate under its own power, where it will be inspected by our maintenance team," the statement read. "We’re working to get customers on their way to EYW as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience." The aircraft, an Embraer 175, held 69 customers and four crew members. No injuries were reported. A new flight to take the passengers to Key West was scheduled to take off around 4:45 PM and land around 7:26 PM, according to American Airlines website. The flight delay comes after the American Airlines’ pilots union warned last month that it’s been tracking a "significant spike" in safety and maintenance issues at the airline unrelated to birds. In a memo to its members, the Allied Pilots Association’s Safety Committee said it observed a trend of tools left in wheel wells after maintenance work was performed, an increase in aircraft collisions on the ground during towing operations as well as poor recordkeeping and abbreviated check flights following maintenance.<br/>
oneworld
Cathay Pacific Airways passengers described vomiting and screaming in fear as their Hong Kong-bound flight battled intense turbulence and failed twice to land at the airport amid bad weather on Tuesday (April 30). A passenger shared the ordeal in a post on popular mainland Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, after Cathay Pacific flight 341 from Shanghai suffered a delay of more than seven hours from its planned touchdown at 7.30pm at Hong Kong International Airport. “My bum detached from my seat at least three or four times, while all the items in my bag came flying out,” she said. “The word ‘bumpy’ fails to describe the feeling. The sense of weightlessness was way too horrible.” Writing in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Xiaohongshu user said the aircraft unsuccessfully attempted to land twice, causing some of the passengers on the turbulent ride to start vomiting, screaming and crying. “There were two failed landing attempts. The first time it glided to 2,000m [6,561 feet], I felt like I was about to die. All the passengers on board the flight started to scream while children were crying wildly,” she said. “Amid the bumpy and shaky ride was the resonating sound of vomiting. The whole aircraft was filled with the smell of vomit.” She said the aircraft was running out of fuel and was eventually diverted to Shenzhen airport to refuel, before safely landing in Hong Kong at 2.42am the next day.<br/>
Qantas Airways Ltd said a technology upgrade caused the airline’s frequent flyer app to malfunction on May 1, allowing some members to access the travel details, personal data and boarding passes of complete strangers. The issue has been resolved and there’s no indication it was the result of a cyberattack, the Australian airline said in a statement. Social media posts pointed to a serious data breach inside Qantas’ points business, a loyalty programme with 16m members that’s a financial pillar of the airline. Some app users could view the credit status and travel plans of multiple passengers. At least one person logged in and had the ability to cancel someone else’s flight to Europe, according to local media. Qantas announced a revamp of the loyalty division last month, making millions more seats available for frequent flyers to appease customers frustrated at the former redemption model. The airline didn’t say whether Wednesday’s glitch was related to the recent changes. Qantas said in its statement it’s not aware of any passengers travelling with the wrong boarding passes, and customers would not have been able to transfer or use other people’s points.<br/>