  For flares to be generated, stars have to have a sufficiently deep outer
convection zone (F5 and later), strong large--scale magnetic fields (Ap/Bp-type
stars) or strong, radiatively driven winds (B5 and earlier). Normal A-type
stars possess none of these and therefore should not flare. Nevertheless,
flares have previously been detected in the Kepler lightcurves of 33 A-type
stars and interpreted to be intrinsic to the stars. Here we present new and
detailed analyses of these 33 stars, imposing very strict criteria for the
flare detection. We confirm the presence of flare-like features in 27 of the 33
A-type stars. A study of the pixel data and the surrounding field-of-view (FOV)
reveals that 14 of these 27 flaring objects have overlapping neighbouring stars
and 5 stars show clear contamination in the pixel data. We have obtained
high-resolution spectra for 2/3 of the entire sample and confirm that our
targets are indeed A-type stars. Detailed analyses revealed that 11 out of 19
stars with multiple epochs of observations are spectroscopic binaries.
Furthermore, and contrary to previous studies, we find that the flares can
originate from a cooler, unresolved companion. We note the presence of
H$\alpha$ emission in eight stars. Whether this emission is circumstellar or
magnetic in origin is unknown. In summary, we find possible alternative
explanations for the observed flares for at least 19 of the 33 A-type stars,
but find no truly convincing target to support the hypothesis of flaring A-type
stars.
