TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin AA Flight #2478 Diverted? 3 days in a row!

Does anyone on here have any idea why this flight has been diverted the past two days when leaving SXM and bound for CLT? On July 16 the flight was diverted to Raleigh and then on to CLT for an arrival around midnight, meaning anyone with connections elsewhere would have missed them. On July 17 the same flight was diverted to Charleston SC and then on to CLT for an arrival around 11:45pm. I have a call in to AA (which will probably be useless) and am waiting for a call back.

This is rather concerning because it has happened two days in a row and if all goes as planned, I will be on this flight in around a month from now.

I am hoping perhaps a TTOL member was on one of the flights and can provide some insight. If/when I get a call back from AA I will update if they provide any real information.

And the AA reservations agent could provide no information as to why the flight was diverted two days in a row.

that is very weird. Did they leave SXM on time each day?

Yes, within 5-15 minutes of the scheduled departure time and actually slightly early. The agent stated that flight diversions are a rare exception and had no further information for past flights. Lots on unhappy people likely on those flights.

The diverted flights each spent 4+ hours at the airports they were diverted to before going on to CLT.

How weird.

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/s...e-passengers/HMCO45A6NBFMRD7G55OVGF7E3I/

Looks like severe weather at CLT. And before anyone says "two days in a row?
" remember that it has been hot and heat always brings a risk of thunderstorms. They can come up quickly and also pass quickly but as any pilot will tell you, they are NOT something that you mess with.

Thank for the link but the article indicates the problem started on Wednesday night but the Tuesday flight was also diverted. Yes, two days in a row is rather unusual for any reason.

The article is from May 16th and has nothing to do with these two diverted flights.

Thanks for correcting the situation, I did not look at any dates. I would just like to know the situation.

JD, that was not a criticism of you and I should have replied to the individual that posted the link. I hope you get your answer.

We've had some bad weather here in Eastern NC the past several days, but I don't think it's been that far west. There doesn't seem to be any explanation that I can find online.

I live right outside of Charlotte. I know that yesterday there was a ground stop until 6:30 pm due to weather because it was on the news (and I had a friend at the airport whose connecting flight to Tennessee was delayed and I was going to have to go get her if the flight ended up cancelling). I didn’t hear anything about Tuesday, but I think we did have a late afternoon/ early evening storm that day too, and we have a severe thunderstorm watch today until 9 pm.

No problem at all, I did not take it as criticism but I do sincerely appreciate you catching the date stamp on the article. It APPEARS it may have been weather but it would be nice to know for sure. Thanks!

The flight for today, Thursday, took off from SXM on time but according to FlightAware, CLT is currently experiencing 40-minute delays for inbound flights but the hold is shown to be at the origin/SXM city, which did not happen today. I will track today's flight and see what happens.

Thanks to all for the input.

Was talking to someone by the pool yesterday that was flying through CLT today or tomorrow and he received a weather alert from AA.

It appears to be about to land in CLT in about 10 minutes for the Thursday flight. It is about 16 minutes late so there may have been some weather. According to FlightAware, it appears to have circled CLT a couple of times prior to the final approach.

OOOPS, I didn't check the dates, sorry.

Could still have been the reason though, 'tis the time of year for thunderstorms.

Here is a new wrinkle, Thursday's flight #2478 was (according to the AA site and FlightAware) also diverted to Charleston and spent the night there. 3 consecutive days?? Something is not right. The IT/Microsoft outage has created a mess today but it should not have impacted the CLT/SXM flight the past 3 days.

JD--yesterday's flight was 16 minutes from landing in Charlotte, but then diverted? Was there weather there again?

On FlightAware, it appeared to be almost landing in CLT but had circled a few times and I quit watching as I thought it was a done deal but then it appears to have been diverted to Charleston again. I have no idea the reason but 3 days in a row seems very odd for any reason.

From what I can gather from reading some of the other groups, weather seems to have been the issue. Someone on one of the flights indicated it was a mess.

There was weather in CLT both dates. Flights from the islands are often fuel critical because of takeoff weight restrictions due to short runways. If there are even slight delays diverts can be required. With a forecast of possible convective activity flights with the takeoff performance to carry extra fuel will often carry 60 to 120 minutes of hold fuel to prevent diverts.

Our son and daughter in law were on the flight diverted to Charleston. It was weather in Charlotte. They were supposed to arrive in St Louis at 11:15ish but finally arrived at 3:45am. They had a crew time out. AA discovered a tire that needed to be changed 1/2 hour before takeoff. The plane had been sitting there for several hours.
We were on the same flight last night and sat on the plane for couple of hours for maintenance issues. we got in at 1:45.
Long day.

Thanks for the input. And with weather delays, the airline is off the hook for any compensation.