American Airlines called out for 'blocking off access' to rear exits on flight to Toronto

A passenger is accusing American Airlines of allowing crews to "block off access" to rear exits during a recent flight to Toronto.

Lori Soler posted the photo and video of the exit seemingly blocked off with seatbelt harnesses on X and tagged American Airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration, and Transport Canada.

"Do [you] allow your crews to block off access to rear exits DURING flight so your FA’s can sit and chat? Seatbelt harnesses connected together," the passenger wrote with the hashtags #safetyfail, #clueless, and #infuriating.

According to Soler's post, they were on flight AA 2804 from Dallas to Toronto on October 29 when they witnessed this.

Hey @AmericanAir. Do @FAANews, @FAASafetyBrief, @USDOT, and @Transport_gc allow your crews to block off access to rear exits DURING flight so your FA’s can sit and chat ? Seatbelt harnesses connected together. AA2804 DFW-YYZ, 29 Oct 2023. #safetyfail, #clueless, #infuriating pic.twitter.com/iGJ1KUVJaj

— Lori Soler (@lorikaycan) October 31, 2023

As of Wednesday, the post has garnered over 33,000 views. It sparked a heated debate in the replies about whether blocking off that area is warranted or not.

Many disagreed with Soler, saying that you don't need access to the exits in the middle of a flight.

You won't need the exits during flight anyway because the doors can't and shouldn't be opened in flight so there goes that emergency theory. Also the lavatory is before the galley so passengers have access to the lavatory. 3rd, passengers don't need to be in the galley anyway.…

— carmencitakay (@1BasketBall_Mom) October 31, 2023

Others added that the area in the back where flight crews sit "is small enough" and that they probably don’t want people crowding there.

The galley is small enough no crew want nobody standing in their space, I am sure it’s not to avoid passengers too much galley yoga and group chat prevent crew from doing. There setups

— ✨Voltage✨ (@bellbwoy90) October 31, 2023

There were some X users who agreed with Soler.

whoever did this should be fired. That is a serious risk to safety and is only because they don't want to be bothered with passengers.

— LuderGins 🇺🇸🇮🇹 🐈 🐈‍⬛ (@luder_gins) October 31, 2023

"Seems against FAA code. Exits need to be accessible (passengers have to keep emergency exits accessible, after all)," replied one person.

Is that really a question for you? Rear exits were being blocked, not by a curtain, but by seatbelts rigged to separate passengers from the FAs. Seems against FAA code. Exits need be accessible (passengers have to keep emergency exits accessible, after all).

— Gabrielle E (@Gabriel14618427) November 1, 2023

American Airlines has yet to respond to our request for comment.

However, the airline did reply to Soler's tweet.

"Thanks for allowing us to take a closer look, we'll share your photos with our inflight leadership team for an internal review," it reads.