Tragically, an American flight attendant passed away yesterday on a flight that was scheduled to operate from Venice (VCE) to Philadelphia (PHL). On June 21, 2023, AA715 was operated by a roughly one-year-old Boeing 787-8 with the registration code N883BM.
The flight departed Italy as scheduled, though unfortunately during the early portion of the flight, one of the flight attendants had a medical emergency. CPR was performed on her, but she passed away. The flight then ended up diverting to Dublin (DUB), where it landed just over 2hr30min after departing Venice.
The flight attendant who passed away was Carol Wright, who was also the flight’s purser, and had a 38 year career at American. Based on everything I’ve seen and heard, she was loved by her colleagues, and was a positive spirit.
How sad. My thoughts are with Carol’s family, as I can only imagine their grieving. Flight attendants fly around the globe constantly, and I’m sure when they say bye to their families before a trip, they don’t expect it will be the last time they see them.
My thoughts are also with all of her colleagues, and especially the crew she was working with on this flight. I can’t imagine how traumatizing it is to deal with this under any circumstances, let alone onboard a plane.
I haven’t seen a whole lot of information as to how this all played out. Was she not feeling well when she boarded, or was this sudden? Did this happen in the cabin, and/or did passengers know what was going on?
What happened when the flight diverted to Dublin
Once the plane landed in Dublin, the continuation of the flight to Philadelphia was canceled. I’m not sure if that was because the pilots were going to time out, if it’s because they were under FAA minimums for number of crew members, or if it was because the crew was in shock following what happened.
It could be a combination of those, and any/all are completely valid reasons. Safety is paramount in the airline industry, and you don’t want crews flying after they’ve dealt with this kind of trauma.
It would appear that roughly 24 hours after passengers arrived in Dublin, the continuation to Philadelphia is finally underway. The same Boeing 787 is now operating the flight to Philadelphia as flight number AA9817.
While it goes without saying that this was a significant inconvenience for all involved, I hope that passengers treat the crew with respect and are considerate of the situation — not just because it’s not the crew’s fault, but also because I imagine they’re going through quite a bit of trauma as well.
Bottom line
An American Airlines flight from Venice to Philadelphia diverted to Dublin, after a flight attendant passed away inflight. The flight attendant who passed away was also the purser, who had been at the airline for 38 years. This is just so, so sad, and my thoughts are with Carol’s family, friends, and colleagues.