Summary
- An American Airlines flight was diverted due to lice spotted on a passenger.
- The high-frequency LAX-JFK route is served up to 30 times a day, with flights operated by American Airlines, Delta, and JetBlue.
- Due to health hazards posed by bugs and insects, often, cabin crew members walk around the cabin discharging insecticide spray cans.
On June 15th, an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York was diverted to Phoenix shortly after taking off because passengers reportedly spotted lice crawling over a passenger’s hair. This resulted in the flight diverting, and all passengers were accommodated in Phoenix for the day.
Lice on a plane
While it is not as scary as the moving ‘Snakes On Plane’, having lice crawl around an aircraft cabin undetected can be an uncomfortable and chaotic experience for everyone onboard the airplane. As reported by Live And Let’s Fly, such an incident occurred onboard American Airlines flight AA2201, which is a scheduled service from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to New York (JFK) Airport.
On Saturday, June 15th, the flight (an Airbus A321neo) departed LAX at 13:54 (four minutes behind the scheduled departure); however, data from FlightRadar24.com indicates that the aircraft was back on the ground within two hours, just not at the intended destination. The report suggests that the flight was diverted to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Though the airline did not explain the reason for the diversion prior to landing at PHX, according to the report, TSA agents on the ground explained that two passengers saw ‘bugs’ crawling out of a woman’s hair in flight and alerted the cabin crew.
Reports suggest that all the passengers were asked to disembark the aircraft and were provided with food vouchers and a hotel stay. The flight was scheduled to continue onwards to JFK the following morning, 12 hours later. The aircraft took off the following morning at 06:08, bound for JFK with all the passengers onboard, minus the passenger on whom the lice were reportedly detected.
Simple Flying has contacted the airline for more details about the diversion. Any response received will be updated in this article.
High-frequency route
Considering both LAX and JFK are major US cities, up to 30 daily flights serve this route, operated by three different carriers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and JetBlue.
|
Carrier |
American Airlines |
Delta Air Lines |
JetBlue |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Daily Services (LAX-JFK) |
9 |
Up to 11 |
Up to 10 |
Rather interestingly, Delta is the only operator to consistently utilize widebody aircraft, namely its fleet of Boeing 767s.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The absence of United Airlines on this route is quite noticeable, and that is because United’s primary hub on the East Coast at the moment is JFK’s neighboring airport – Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). While United did operate out of JFK, in 2015, the carrier, in order to consolidate its operations at EWR, leased its JFK slots to Delta.
Related
Why Doesn’t United Airlines Fly To JFK Airport?
What did the carrier’s historic operation at JFK look like, and why did it come to an end?
Though the carrier did briefly reappear at JFK from 2021 to 2022, due to limited slots available, it only operated two flights daily to both Los Angeles and San Francisco during that period.
Safety first
While it might seem like the diversion was an overreaction, it is important to keep in mind that the cabin crew members, along with the flight crew members, are responsible for passenger safety, which often includes making decisions regarding flight diversion.
Considering the nature of the bugs spotted by passengers were unclear, and the potential for the bugs to spread and create an infestation onboard the aircraft or even affect the health and comfort of the passengers and crew members onboard the aircraft, the diversion was probably warranted.
Photo: Nathan Klemstein | Shutterstock
While it might not look like much, having bugs and insects onboard aircraft can be a health hazard. That is why, quite often, passengers can see cabin crew members passing around the cabin using spray cans that kill insects, thus preventing the spread of diseases.
Related
Aircraft Insecticide: Why Certain Plane Cabins Are Sprayed Before Departure
Why airlines use bug spray on planes.
