Passengers aboard an American Airlines flight literally had the surprise of their lives when a bumpy ride resulted in the dislodging of a row of seats on Saturday, which led to an emergency landing.

The Boeing 757 en route to Miami from Boston, which had 175 people on board, was forced to make an urgent landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. Three seats in Row 12 had reportedly loosened just after the plane's take off. Fortunately, the aircraft landed safely and nobody was injured. The passengers were transferred to another plane and their trip continued later in the day.

Andrea Huguely, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, had released a statement regarding the situation.

"We are conducting an internal investigation into why Row 12 was not locked down. There are at least a half-dozen reasons why a row of seats could become loose. We never have -- nor will we -- compromise the safety and reliability of our fleet."

The Allied Pilots Association, which is the biggest independent union for pilots and a certified collective bargaining agent for roughly 10,000 American Airlines pilots, stated to CNN that the interior restructuring that resulted in the loose seats was done by a third party maintenance crew.

Gregg Overman, the APA's spokesman also commented on the rare occurrence by saying that "It's an embarrassing problem."

American Airlines claimed that they indeed adhere to standard maintenance practices and the incident had been reported to the Federal Aviation Administration.

In the last month, over 12,000 American flights were delayed and 1,000 were cancelled. The airline's management team is pointing the finger at pilots for filing irrelevant reports regarding aircraft discrepancies. However, the union that represents their pilots is rebuking the claims of the American upper brass'.

The airline company is no stranger to controversy, as they did claim bankruptcy in 2011 and are also dealing with contract woes in regards to their major unions.

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