Heaven Can’t Wait : 53 Airline Passengers Discover Nothing Gets in Way of Angel Team Going Home

The passengers thought they were well on their way to Phoenix--until their airline threw them a screwball.

The Angels, last in the American League West, had just been defeated in their final game of the season by the Texas Rangers and wanted to get home real bad.

So, in a decision for which America West airlines is still apologizing, a plane that had taken off from Dallas half an hour earlier was ordered back to the airport, its 53 passengers were kicked off and the Angels got on and headed home.

“Dear village idiot,” wrote passenger Bobby Williams in a fax to the airline after the Sunday night incident. “May your airline go belly up as soon as possible so a more qualified group can assume your routes.”

America West spokesman Gus Whitcomb--still hearing from angry passengers Tuesday--said the Angels’ chartered America West plane had been grounded for mechanical work. The Phoenix-based airline did not have another jet available to meet its contractual obligation that a replacement be provided within four hours of a scheduled departure. So it diverted the airborne plane, Flight 543, that had left Dallas-Fort Worth Airport at 7:40 p.m.

“We inconvenienced 53 very important passengers, and we’re truly sorry,” Whitcomb said, adding that paying passengers taken off the jet would receive vouchers for an unspecified amount. Fifteen airline employees and family members were also on the plane that was called back.

An Angel official said the players and passengers passed each other as one group disembarked and the other boarded the plane. Passengers had to wait two hours while America West ticket agents scrambled to find room for them aboard an American Airlines flight to Phoenix and Los Angeles. Other passengers missed connecting flights and were put up at a hotel by the airline.

He said the Angels were aware that they were boarding a plane that had already been airborne.

Angel officials said Tuesday that America West had not told them that a plane was being diverted for the team’s use.

“We weren’t told until after they recalled the plane,” said Frank Sims, who arranges travel for the team. “It’s up to them to get us out of there, according to our contract.”

Disney Sports Enterprises officials, who own controlling interest in the team, also said the Angels were not to blame for the flight’s being recalled.

“It has nothing to do with our organization,” said Disney spokesman Bill Robertson. “It has everything to do with America West. We have a contractual agreement, and it was a decision by America West.”

Mitch Barker, a Federal Aviation Administration official, called the incident unusual but said no regulations were violated.

“How a company uses their aircraft in conducting their business is not an FAA matter,” Barker said. “It’s entirely up to them how they’re going to treat their passengers. As long as it doesn’t have to do with their safety, it’s not our area of concern.”

He added, “But I’ve never heard of something like this ever happening before.”

Many professional teams, such as the Kings and Lakers, use charter companies instead of commercial airlines. But their contracts stipulate that the charter company must find the team a flight if mechanical problems ground the plane. The Kings have been put on Northwest Airlines flights in the past, but have never bumped passengers, according to John Wolf, the team’s assistant general manager.

Said America West’s Whitcomb, “We made a mistake. There’s no other way to explain it. It was a well-intentioned decision to make sure everybody got where they were going. We have contacted each passenger and issued a personal apology.”

In hindsight, Whitcomb said the airline should have given the Angels two choices when the team plane broke down. They could have either waited until the plane was repaired, or the players could have been put aboard another flight on another airline.

“It was the end of the season,” Whitcomb said. “It wasn’t like they needed their equipment for another game. Their season was over.”

Times staff writer Chris Foster contributed to this story.