PSA53 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 3006 posts, RR: 4 Posted (2 years 5 months 3 days ago) and read 2620 times:
I was very touched when I read this story from Yahoo and Time.It restores you're faith into people still having super human qualities in them.I'll let you read the story as it speaks for itself but a big,Big and BIGGER high five to the pilot and to his employer,Southwest Airlines.Great job!
av8orwalk From United States of America, joined Nov 2006, 175 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (2 years 5 months 3 days ago) and read 2592 times:
There was a thread about this, but it was locked because it turned into a Southwest bashing. I don't understand how a story like this would bring out so much hate in people, but it did.
Cheers,
Drew MCO
The safest place to be in an airplane crash is on the ground.
PSA53 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 3006 posts, RR: 4 Reply 2, posted (2 years 5 months 3 days ago) and read 2545 times:
Quoting av8orwalk (Reply 1): There was a thread about this, but it was locked because it turned into a Southwest bashing. I don't understand how a story like this would bring out so much hate in people, but it did.
Wow,I don't either.I was unaware that it had been written already.Mods,you may delete if you wish.
Bennett123 From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 6392 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (2 years 5 months 3 days ago) and read 2473 times:
Good to see that the pilot appreciated that this was an exceptional situation.
Good to see that Southwest can see that the pilot made the right call.
It would be great to see all airlines useing a bit of common sense as well.
As for the other passengers, so they are delayed a few minutes. If they miss connections then next time they will make a sensible allowance. If they only allow themselves 10 minutes slack, then that is poor planning. S*** happens, and only an idiot does not allow for it.
shamrock604 From Ireland, joined Sep 2007, 4041 posts, RR: 13 Reply 5, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 2237 times:
Folks,
You can be quite sure that it was Southwest Operations Control that gave the authorisation to delay and indeed were the ones responsible for advising the crew once the information had been passed to them..
But the media always love it when it was the "Captain" or Pilot (because as we all know, there is only one on commercial flights)
I think a little bit of artistic licence was used in the story, but it doesnt take from the fact that Southwest as a company handled the situation very well indeed!
Flown EI,FR,RE,EIR,VE,SI,TLA,BA,BE,BD,VX,MON,AF,YS,WX,KL,SK,LH,OK,OS,LX,IB,LTU,HLX,4U,SU,CO,DL,UA,AC,PR,MH,SQ,QF, EY, EK
737tanker From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 225 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 2069 times:
Quoting shamrock604 (Reply 5): You can be quite sure that it was Southwest Operations Control that gave the authorisation to delay and indeed were the ones responsible for advising the crew once the information had been passed to them..
On the SWA employee website both Gary Kelly and the VP of FltOps stated that the decision to delay the flight was made by the Captain alone.
shamrock604 From Ireland, joined Sep 2007, 4041 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 2005 times:
Quoting 737tanker (Reply 6): On the SWA employee website both Gary Kelly and the VP of FltOps stated that the decision to delay the flight was made by the Captain alone.
In that case, I stand corrected, but how did the captain hear about why the man was travelling in the first place? There must have been some line of communication, dont you agree?
At my airline, Operations Control must be consulted for any delay over 10 minutes when it concerns waiting for pax.
Flown EI,FR,RE,EIR,VE,SI,TLA,BA,BE,BD,VX,MON,AF,YS,WX,KL,SK,LH,OK,OS,LX,IB,LTU,HLX,4U,SU,CO,DL,UA,AC,PR,MH,SQ,QF, EY, EK
AirCalSNA From United States of America, joined Mar 2010, 273 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 1869 times:
That's a weird story--it has the feel of an urban legend to me. Not only does it bizarrely suggest that an airline holding a plane is more noteworthy than the murder of a 3-year-old, but I have been on Southwest flights in the past year that were purposely held at the gate to allow connecting passengers and luggage to arrive. I'm a big fan of Southwest, so I'm not bashing it--I just don't see what is so unique about a plane being held at the gate, regardless of the circumstances.
ltbewr From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 12365 posts, RR: 12 Reply 9, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1811 times:
I would suggest that the culture at WN as to empowering employees to act to the best benefit of their customers as a good business practice led to this situation. That they are doing some Public Relations promotion of the Captian's action is a subtitle way to show they are not like most other airlines, are customer friendly. It is also a nice acknowledgment of the actions of the pilot, something that is a rather inexpensive bonus and moral boost to the Captain.
abq707 From United States of America, joined Sep 2010, 67 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1776 times:
This story went viral and SWA didn't make it happen, or turn it into a PR event. The people involved and the public commumicated this little, magic moment of humanity. I've been a CO fanboy and high mileage passenger for years because of the care and service they provided in a similar, difficult situation. I won't address that here for fear of being banned/deleted for being off topic; SWA deserves any accolades and "PR" they receive in this case. Good work by empowered employees.
acidradio From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 1855 posts, RR: 10 Reply 11, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1728 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW FORUM MODERATOR
Quoting av8orwalk (Reply 1): I don't understand how a story like this would bring out so much hate in people, but it did.
Agreed.
Folks, I just had to delete a bunch of argumentative and otherwise negative posts. If you have diverging or opposing viewpoint that is fine - by all means state your case! But do it in a constructive manner based on facts, evidence or experiences and in a way which does not involve insults to others.
There was another thread about this same subject the other day and I had to delete it not because of the topic itself but because it rapidly became a petty argument between a few members. I am willing to try this topic ONE MORE TIME but only if we keep this clean, organized and respectful. I feel like boxing referee - "OK guys I want this to be a clean fight, nothing below the belt."
If this thread degrades into another fight I WILL lock it and I will ensure that any future threads about this topic are removed. Thank you for your understanding.
Quoting abq707 (Reply 10): 've been a CO fanboy and high mileage passenger for years because of the care and service they provided in a similar, difficult situation. I won't address that here for fear of being banned/deleted for being off topic;
If it directly relates to an airline holding an otherwise on-time flight for passengers in a tough situation I'm sure we'd all like to hear about it.
catiii From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 2303 posts, RR: 3 Reply 13, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 1669 times:
Quoting AirCalSNA (Reply 8): I just don't see what is so unique about a plane being held at the gate, regardless of the circumstances.
I fly a competing airline every week to and from my home in NYC, and make a connection in ATL twice a week. I can tell you that, in my experience when I or a group from my flight have been running late to make a connection, it's a rare (actually never) occurrence for a flight to be held. I would imagine for most other airlines it's also a rare occurrence. Good to hear it is a regular occurrence at Southwest though.
chrisair From United States of America, joined Sep 2000, 1796 posts, RR: 4 Reply 14, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1461 times:
Quoting catiii (Reply 13): Good to hear it is a regular occurrence at Southwest though.
In my experience it doesn't happen THAT often. It happens based on some number of connecting passengers, how full the rest of the flights are, how long you'd be stuck etc. They really do try and hold the last flights out though. If you're on a CA shuttle flight, they won't usually hold a plane.
What IS a regular occurrence are WN employees (not just pilots) going out of their way to help customers. Do these things happen on other airlines? Sure. It just seems to happen more on WN than other airlines. I haven't seen a UA Captain help throw bags in the snow at DEN. I have seen it on WN on more than one occasion. Like I said in the other thread, I'm sure a different airline's crew would do the same thing. I'm just not sure the front line folks would make sure the flight crew knew about it. I sincerely hope they would.
Quoting AirCalSNA (Reply 8): That's a weird story--it has the feel of an urban legend to me. Not only does it bizarrely suggest that an airline holding a plane is more noteworthy than the murder of a 3-year-old...
I don't. Take a look at the source of the story--it's a travel blog, not a newspaper/news blog. Nice username, btw.
wnbob From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 160 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (2 years 5 months 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1245 times:
The stories I've read, there was some kind of communication to the pilot before hand. One story says (1) the traveler was hassled by TSA, (2) then the family called Southwest, (3) then the pilot was expecting the traveler at the gate. It's entirely possible headquarter said, "John, you are on the ground, you make the call." Delaying flights can have major consequences down-stream specially with Southwest' point-to-point system, but a terminator flight (last of the day, plane sleeping in airport) would be alright. 12 minutes is nothing for such legitimate emergency am sure all here agree.
SkyPriorityDTW From United States of America, joined Oct 2010, 187 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (2 years 5 months 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 1025 times:
I think this was a good call. Realize, however, that this happens just about everyday in the airline industry. I've seen it go both ways... hold sometimes and no hold other times. For example, holding a DTW-GRB flight may not come with many ramifications as there aren't any connections and passengers usually don't mind in a situation like such. However, holding a DTW-ATL flight can come with MANY ramifications. There can be a great abundance of misconnects, numerous mishandled bags, and a possible gate shortage or air traffic delay.
I have to say this pilot must have looked at the big picture before making this decision. As soon as he realized it wouldn't be a big deal, he figured he might as well hold the flight. Good call
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