Another favorite from our friends at View From the Wing. On Monday, June 2 2025, American Airlines used the wrong plane for a flight from Philadelphia to Naples, Italy. The short story is that they sent a 787-9 which is not permitted to land at the Naples airport instead of a 787-8 which is. Fortunately, the plane did not return to Philadelphia when they were not cleared to land. But instead, they were diverted to Rome. No word on how the passengers were transported from Rome to Naples. I can tell you from personal experience that the train ride is relatively quick and enjoyable.
The feedback is that someone in their operations group messed up because there are differences between these planes (not a lot but some). They should know which planes can land at which airports and plan accordingly.
Lots of questions on how this happened but no one has reported anything from American Airlines yet. Also, what happened to the passengers and how did it affect their vacation? For those who may not know, several cruise ships operate out of Naples including MSC and Princess Cruises. This diversion to the Rome airport could have resulted in passengers missing the departure of their cruise ship or even a lengthy delay if they were flying to another destination or even taking a ferry to an island like Capri.
I know that if I took an overnight flight and had to figure out how to get to the city that I originally intended on that was roughly 150 miles away, I would not be in a good mood. I do wonder how the airline took care of these passengers once they landed.