Something tells me 3DDave backed when he should have eased the tug forward - and gave the client's flagship a case of "hangar rash"!
That kind of guilt will ruin your holidays spirit, man - fess up!
The main reporting indicates the left AA stab took on the left SWA winglet. The AA flight supposedly had spotters watching the AA wingtips, which suggests the AA pilot was squeezing in to the gate and then turned to hit the SWA flight; it still isn't clear how they missed a collision between wingtips, but perhaps the AA pilot was just cutting it that closely.
What seemed really stoopid (yes, misspelled) was they put up stairs for the SWA passengers to deplane in the rain. C'mon. Does the FAA really required a full engine shutdown for a winglet? The AA flight continued under power and their passengers deplaned at the gate. Certainly there's another gate available.
While the new winglet on that 737 will likely cost over $30K, the larger cost will be the labor to install the new winglet and the loss of revenue from the aircraft being out of service.
In fact, there may not even be a new/replacement winglet available for several months. This is a common problem. I have seen reports of relatively new 787 aircraft being disassembled for spare parts.
