American Airlines flight attendants were placed in an absurd situation earlier this week when they had to prepare meals and beverages in “near-total darkness” on a longhaul transatlantic flight because the airline dispatched a Boeing 777 aircraft with broken galley lights.
The problem is not that AA broke any safety regulations or put passengers in danger (beyond potentially mis-plating meals). Indeed, AA may have made the right call in deciding that it was more costly to take a delay at Heathrow than to defer this annoying but ultimately minuscule maintenance issue.
Minimum Equipment List (MEL) procedures allow for the safe, legal operation of aircraft with specific inoperative components for a limited time. When equipment fails, it must be logged, checked against the operator’s FAA-approved MEL, and if authorized, deactivated/placarded by maintenance. For example, that’s why we often see these stickers on seats or in lavatories:
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on Live and Let's Fly.
