(NEW YORK) -- American Airlines is investigating how and why a row of seats aboard one of its Boeing 757s came loose mid-flight this weekend, forcing an emergency landing in New York City, ABC News has confirmed.

The incident, which is also being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), happened on Saturday aboard a flight from Boston to Miami.

In a statement, the FAA said, "Preliminary information indicates that a row of three seats in the coach cabin apparently became loose."

American Airlines Seats Become Loose in Flight Before Emergency Landing

By JIM AVILA and MATT HOSFORD | Good Morning America – 6 hours ago

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The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how a row of seats in the coach cabin on a passenger jet became loose in flight. The seats on American Airlines Flight 6885, a Boeing 757, became unbolted during a Saturday night flight from Boston to Miami. The flight was diverted and made an emergency landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.
The passengers in those seats were moved to other seats on the plane. No one was injured and the aircraft landed safely at JFK. The passengers were delayed three hours before being put on another flight to Miami.
The FAA has stepped up scrutiny of American during its bankruptcy, as it has in the past for other carriers in similar situations. AMR Corp., American Airlines' parent company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Nov. 29, 2011.
This is the latest in a string of recent problems for American Airlines. Maintenance and employee issues have led to significant delays and cancellations in recent weeks.
ABC News reported last month that the airline was forced to delay nearly 40 percent of its flights, with most forced to be late or even cancelled by an "unprecedented and very significant" increase in maintenance issues. The airline blamed the pilots, who it claimed were calling out sick 20 percent more than normal.
"The recent disruptions are primarily due to the significant increase in maintenance write-ups by our pilots, many right at the time of departure," the airline said in a statement last month.
The pilots union said there is no sanctioned work action underway and disagreed with American's accounting of sick leave and crew cancellations.
A fight last month between two flight attendants over a cellphone forced a plane to turn back to the gate at JFK and delayed passengers four hours while the airline found a new crew.
The trouble at the airline has prompted at least one airline industry expert to advise passengers to book away from the airline for the time being.
Wall Street Journal travel editor Scott McCartney warned passengers, "My advice is, until things get straightened out with the operations, if you have a choice, you ought to book another airline.
It's just not worth it."

American Airlines Passengers Told to Brace for Crash-Landing After Another Maintenance Scare


By JIM AVILA | Good Morning America – 10 hours ago

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• View Photo American Airlines Passengers Told to Brace for Crash-Landing After Another Maintenance …

Another day, another safety issue has American Airlines under the microscope because of a mid-flight maintenance scare when a plane's landing-gear jammed after take-off.
Flight 1862 from Dallas to St. Louis had to return for an emergency landing 10 minutes into the flight Tuesday. The passengers were told to brace for a crash landing at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Jim Faulkner, an American Airlines spokesman, confirmed that he flight turned back to the airport without incident around 8:40 a.m. local time. Passengers were put on another plane to St. Louis.
"When they said assume the position, it was scary," passenger Elaine Krieger said.
As passengers reflected on the incident, some were left to wonder whether the landing-gear concern was real, well aware of the airline's recent trouble with labor.
"Some people are cheering as we landed, and the rest of us are thinking, 'Is this a scenario they created, or was it real?'" passenger Jeff Estes said. "Are they really heroes, or are they guys just creating a job action?"
After a tumultuous week of seats' becoming loose, flipping over in mid-flight in one case, American Airlines has announced that it will resume stalled contract negotiations with its pilots' union as early as today.
The developments could lead to a breakthrough in a rocky standoff between the nation's third-largest carrier and its pilots. Thomas Horton, CEO of American parent AMR Corp., said Tuesday in a statement that he was pleased that "intensive bargaining" was scheduled to begin this week.
"It has been a very challenging couple of weeks for our company. As you know, our operations have experienced significant disruption, affecting our customers, our people and our owners," Horton said.
Nearly half of American Airlines' fleet of Boeing 757s -- 47 jets -- were taken out of service earlier this week to make sure that no more of its coach seats came loose in flight, as they now have three separate times. As of this morning, many of the planes are now back in service as the airline said the loose seats were a result of human or mechanical error and not sabotage.
The airline said a saddle clamp was improperly installed on the planes where the seats disengaged. The latest reported incident of loose seats occurred on a flight from Vail, Colo., to Dallas Sept. 26, the New York Post reported Tuesday.
Flight 443 from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport to Miami had to return to JFK Monday when the loose seats were discovered, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
The earlier reported incident took place Saturday night when seats came unbolted on American Airlines Flight 685 from Boston to Miami. The flight was diverted and made an emergency landing at JFK.
The FAA said in a statement Tuesday that it was looking into the first two incidents and that the airline's initial inspection of each aircraft had found other rows of seats that were not properly secured.
"Preliminary information indicates that both aircraft had recently undergone maintenance during which the seats had been removed and re-installed," the FAA said.
ABC News' Matt Hosford contributed to this report.