What's next? Being accused of murder? Atlanta had another ice storm from hell which in turn threw a monkey wrench into the whole flight schedule. Here at BWI we are getting mixed mess however, Mr. Murphy and his law are present today! A flight from FLL will pull up to a jet way near you after 0311! Of course it will be full and has at least one aarrrgh!!! Aisle chair passenger All in a days work. Earlier, two of our BOS flights cancelled. When a BOS flight cancels, you'd think its Armageddon. When you deal with Boston, it is always the end of the world. One lady kept pointing her finger at one of my co-workers and kept accusing her; Ya koncelled mya flight!" I was trying to spell it the way it is said in that grating accent. You know, folks, we don't get our jollies off by canceling and delaying your flights. It is more aggravation for you the passenger and us. If you want to keep using vinegar instead of honey then, you will get what you desire and that is a visit from airport police. Get a life! It is a spell of shitty weather. And, in next Weeks Super Bowl, Eagles Rule! May the score be Philly 42, N.England a big fat goose egg for all your churlishness and aggravation! There, I vented and got it all out of my system.  

[Edited 2005-01-30 06:53:52]

What airline do you work for?

jetBlueAtJFK

JetBlueAtJFK-Judging by past posts and the listing of cities that he refers to, I would assume he works for airTran...

I have to tell you I have enjoyed the best luck when it comes to flying. I think I have only had two flights cancelled in my life and not many weather related issues. People have to realize that things like what happened in Atlanta today happen. Things get hairy but they can't be helped. I think the Eagles will make a game of it but will just fall short.  

Why, I work for FL.. And, for my colleagues who work at EWR, LGA and especially BOS deserve combat pay! It seems that with these towns, even perfect isn't good enough. Complaining is an art form especially it seems in the Boston area. I guess life is tough up there and the focus is me, me and me. I believe this area has the highest rates of suicide. I wonder why. And again, I really hope Philly creams New England and knocks them off their lofty pedestal.

Hang in there man!  I feel your pain, we had the same type of mess in Oregon a few weeks ago. 

I'm afraid I don't really undertstand the point...

I always considered dealing with angry customers as part of the job. And well, the aisle chair pax... thats also your job.

Zippy,
I feel your pain man. We here in MKE haven't had an arrival from ATL in two days. We thought thst our first arrival was going to come in, but what's this? Canceled due to de-icing.
"Sorry sir, the flight that I just rebooked you on has been canceled. You will now get into FLL at 0020 instead of 1245."
(expletives)
"Yes I understand that it is 12 hours later that you we originally scheduled."
(expletives)
"No sir I can't put you on DL. This is a weather delay, and we do not move passengers to other airlines for weather delays."
(expletives)
"I understand that you have a cruise to catch. My advice is to always travel the day before a cruise."
(expletives)
You have a nice day sir, and thank you for flying AirTran

Aaaaaaaah .... winter ops...

Travis

P.S. A side note to passengers out there. Do you truly feel that by causing a scene or screaming or yelling at somebody that has absolutely NO CONTROL over this situation, that it is going to get you anything? In my agent days at American....those who screamed and yelled and made an ass out of themselves could sleep in the damned airport for all I cared. Those who understood the blame lies elsewhere, and were willing to work with us to HELP THEM, got 200% out of me to get them where they were going.

Behavior breeds behavior.....

AirTran-You guys don't rebook passengers on other airlines if an issue is because of weather? As far as I have known, with most airlines, the only time a passenger is not rebooked on another airline is if the passenger is on a free (ie. frequent flyer miles, or denied boarding vouchers) ticket...

We often didn't do it at American for WX....(some circumstances, but usually, no).

Travis

P.S. A side note to passengers out there. Do you truly feel that by causing a scene or screaming or yelling at somebody that has absolutely NO CONTROL over this situation, that it is going to get you anything? In my agent days at American....those who screamed and yelled and made an ass out of themselves could sleep in the damned airport for all I cared. Those who understood the blame lies elsewhere, and were willing to work with us to HELP THEM, got 200% out of me to get them where they were going.

On a consumer advocates message board, a guy was ranting because the Delta the pilot "refused to takeoff". Nevermind that there was a ground stop in Atlanta, it wasn't stormy in FLL by golly, so the ONLY reason they didn't go was because "the pilot refused". If I worked for an airline and there was inclement weather out there (that was enough to severely impact aircraft operations), and a jackass was blaming me for the delays, I'd have a fake key made and keep it by the counter. When the aforementioned jackass started making a scene, I'd pull out the key, hand it to him, and tell him that the FAA said it wasn't safe, and the Pilot agreed, but if he still wanted to go, here are the keys to the plane and tell him he was free to fly it himself.

Travatl-I know certain airlines are more willing to do that sort of thing than others (airTran, as this example will show)...in fact, I specifically recall a group of about 30 people not being fimmed on another carrier from airTran when a plane went mechanical (they were flying PHF-ATL-MSP, and the (Monday morning, I want to say 8:00) PHF-ATL leg went mechanical, and they were given a later (1:30 or so in the afternoon) PHF-ATL flight, given hotel rooms in Atlanta overnight, and were given Tuesday morning flights back to Minneapolis, without even looking on other carriers to try to get them home that night.

Goingboeing-if I am not mistaken, Ground Stops affect incoming flights. This flight was leaving Atlanta, and would not be affected by a ground stop at Atlanta, rather, it would be affected by a ground stop in Tampa instead (the final destination of UPS Pilot's girlfriend was not Fort Lauderdale, but Tampa)

SHUPirate1,
The only fares that we will re-book are M,B,Y,J,A. Those are our higher end fares. Fares such as L,Q,B,T,R and any others are out of luck.

AirTran-Even for maintenence?

For MX we will give hotels and re-book passengers on other airlines. If a flight is delayed because of an error on our part i.e.. MX, crew rest and so on, we will rule 120.20 and F.I.M. the passengers. If it's an act of God we will only move those people that I listed before.

When the aforementioned jackass started making a scene, I'd pull out the key, hand it to him, and tell him that the FAA said it wasn't safe, and the Pilot agreed, but if he still wanted to go, here are the keys to the plane and tell him he was free to fly it himself.

Thats funny as hell!...LOL!

Ground Stops affect incoming flights. This flight was leaving Atlanta, and would not be affected by a ground stop at Atlanta,

Ground stops can effect outbound flights as well in cases of severe wheather. ie..heavy fog can shut down and airport, ice, snow etc can also cause flights to be held indefinately on the gate instead of pushing and creating more congestion on the ramp/runways

Two things:

1) Bostonians dont talk like that...at all. I dont know where you came up with that horrible translation.

2) The Patriots are proven winners. Sorry to tell ya...your beloved Eagles are gonna be hurting the morning after.

Bruno
BOS

I understand that people are upset when they are delayed, even I can be. But some of the travelling public need to use a little good judgement. If your from the nroht, u knwo that the south generall does not cope well with frozen precip of anytime (I';ve heard the jabs from friends). DO you p[lan a road trip with out looking at weather and thinking.... hey, perhaps i should not go that way, o if I have to go, i might run late. Screaming at people will not help. PIlots have refused to take off before, usually theres a good reason, not just cause they want to be jerks and stay home. Perhaps they were delayed so long that they ran out of duty time.

The most amusing thing i've seen in a long time, Here in ATL, a plane too FLL was pushing out the gate.. 2 people came strolling (not running or moving at a quickened pace) to cathc the flight. They had missed the connection from somewhere up north. There plane had been delayed earlier (prolly GDP for ATL) and they were about 10-15 minutes late arriving. They had a 20 minute scheduled connection time. The exchange between the gate agent (a manager i believe):

Irate pax: Why didn't you hold it for us?
Agent: We weren't going to delay 100 people for you, we don;t know your
whereabouts or when you would get here.
Pax: We wer eon your plane, it was late.
Agent: Yes ma'am, we're confirming on the next flight, you'll arrive at 1720
Pax: We have to catch a cruise at 3 pm
Agent: Thats our next flight out, i suggest you contact your cruise company
PAx: (with much anger) Its your fault we're late, why would you sell a ticket with a 20 minute connection time???
Agent: WHy would you buy it? Your booked on flight 123 to FLL leaving at 1520 from gate C-17, have a nice fligh, next?

I was laughing when they turned and walked down the concourse. Being an @$$ won't move you any faster, being nice will at least encourage some one to hep you more swiftly. thenagain, i gguess maybe i learned patience in my youth of flying standby

my $.02
fxra

Years ago, I used to post on a message board at "thetrip.com" as "Captain Morgan" (like the rum). Of course, they were all totally ficticious, but I was amazed at how many people thought they were real. Anyhow, I got started because there were numerous posts about airline employees were lying about delays and cancellations. Thus, "the Cap'n" was born. Below is my first post addressing these complaints:

I love my job. Why would anyone think otherwise. What other industry allows us to lie about weather, ATC delays, mechanical problems, connection information, seating assignments, video equipment, flight changes, etc. and lets us do all this FREE travel (usually in first class where we can bump a platinum level FF from his upgrade).

The FA's have it made. Show folks the safety thing and then settle into the jumpseats to read the latest issue of Cosmo.

Gate agents are the "upgrade gods" who can give a complimentary upgrade to the goth teen listening to Marilyn Manson in FC while telling the titanium FF that there aren't any more FC seats available.

Reservations agents have their infamous "rule" which usually includes NOT telling the customer that the fare they are being quoted is actually $150 per ticket more than the lowest fare available...If they aren't smart enough to ask, well, we gotta make money somehow.

Mechanics and ramp workers get to sit around and drink coffe most all day. Nobody can see them from the terminal, so they just have an all day poker game going on...interuppted only by the occasional plane that pulls into the gate.

Dispatchers pretty much surf the net all day long. After all, there IS a TV with the Weather Channel there in the room. If they see an occasional red spot on the radar, it only takes a quick look to see if they have any flights headed thru them. If not, they will route one there, in hopes of getting one of those "airliner hits turbulence" headlines in the paper.

For a while, I thought about flying for Fed Ex or UPS, but no matter how much you waggle the wings, a package rarely pukes. I felt I'd miss that too much, so I'm staying where I'm at.

Happy Flying,

The Cap'n

I've experienced BA a couple of times with trans-Atlantics. Their "cancelation" was in the form of "We've delayed the flight by 24 hours. Please come back tomorrow to check in for your flight."

Jcavinato-Now THAT's embarrassing...if any airline tried to do that with me, they could be absolutely certain that they had received my last shred of business I might give them...

"Ground stops can effect outbound flights..."

Technically, they can not. A ground stop is a halt on inbound flights at their points of origin for a specific area and a specific amount of time. What you are referring to in your post is a gate hold or departure hold. Gate holds and departure holds are not posted by the Air Traffic Control System Command Center as ground stops, but rather as departure delays.

Zippyjet and AirTran737,

Fellas, I feel for you. You know that guy on the other end of ##11? From 1500 to 0230 this morning, that was me. From the moment I sat down, I don't think I went more than 5 minutes without cancelling a flight. All told, I think we cancelled some 233 flights on the 30th. I had a group of 50 in ROC going to FPO, a group of 90 in HOU going to MLI (that fortunately made it) and a DOD movement of 45 sailors coming out of MDW going to PNS via ATL for training. Of course, we cancelled the MDW-ATL segment, and I had to plead with the DM to flagstop the MDW-MCO nonstop to drop these guys off. Thats one contract we don't want to lose! Today probably won't be much better. Before I left this morning, we had already cancelled 30 flights today and there were several crew delays in excess of 60 minutes. My guess is it'll be late Monday before everything starts to run as scheduled. Hang in there!!

JP

AirTran SOC

Technically, they can not. A ground stop is a halt on inbound flights at their points of origin for a specific area and a specific amount of time. What you are referring to in your post is a gate hold or departure hold. Gate holds and departure holds are not posted by the Air Traffic Control System Command Center as ground stops, but rather as departure delays.

Technically, isn't an outbound flight at FLL heading to ATL (making it an "inbound flight") subject to the ground stop in ATL, thus meaning that the outbound flight can't depart due to the ATL gound stop??? What does the ground stop accomplish if airliners accross the country are still taking off towards the affected airport??

For the record, working in cust svc in the city named in the thread-starter, I can assure you, no matter where they're from, people can be nasty. Actually, the worst offenders are the English. If there was ever a more cynical race of people when things don't get right, it's them!  

Interesting that FL don't just try and get rid of passengers when there are irregular ops. At my airline if we have irregular ops and we're cancelled due to wx but other airlines are still departing we'll FIM as many as we can over to other airlines. In the end it's less of a backlog when things return to normal and it's good PR for the company to at least do SOMETHING for stranded passengers. Maybe that's the reason people are so bitch to FL employees  

LH423

Splitting hairs, yes, every inbound flight is obviously an outbound flight from someplace. What I am trying to convey is this, if I were to say...'ATL is on a First Tier Ground Stop with a 2030z update', I would be saying that no flights can depart from any airport in ZJX, ZHU, ZME, ZID, or ZDC until at or after 2030z. What I would not mean is, aircraft cannot depart FROM ATL until after 2030z. I believe the original poster on this side topic was referring to the airport at which the ground stop is taking place.

JP

Groundstop,
Hey I talked to you yesterday at about 1600 regarding scrubbing a MKE-TPA flt and sending it to ATL. What do you say that we get creative again today, because the delays are already mounting.

Splitting hairs, yes, every inbound flight is obviously an outbound flight from someplace.

It's not really splitting hairs...if somebody is in one of those cities that the ground stop in ATL prevents departures, then those outbound flights are indeed affected by the ground stop. And it's stuff like that that many passengers don't understand. They look out at a 78 degree day under sunny skies in Orlando and hear that they can't depart because of a weather related ground stop. It doesn't help when someone calls their buddy in Macon to ask how the weather is, and they get the report that "it's not that bad here". Nevermind that the airport is a bit further down the road.

Hey, passengers need to take some responsibility themselves. #1, they can check the weather, and call to see if there are flight delays. #2, if they are delayed they can call the airline and rebook over the phone, they don't need to wait for the gate attendant, #3, they can be civil to airline personnel, these people are just doing their jobs, #4, they can realize that all of this is for their own safety, it's not a evil plot against them

Passengers, grow up a bit and work with the airline, not against it

It has been my experience that FL is far less willing to help out its stranded passengers than other airlines. Last February, I was scheduled to fly from MEM to MCO with a connection in ATL. My inbound flight to MEM was cancelled to to an MX delay. They rebooked me on a flight that evening which was already running behind schedule. There was of course a NW flight heading to MCO with plenty of seats available, but they refused to put me on that flight. Long story short, my flight arrived late and I missed the last connecting flight of the night in ATL. I was told "sorry" for all of my troubles, but unfortunately they couldn't provide me with a hotel room for that night either. And of course to put the finishing touches on my trip my flight the next morning was delayed by 3 hours. Haven't flown on Airtran since, and don't ever intend to again.

It's not that we don't want to help our stranded passengers, it is thatwe have a limited number of ticketing agreements.Well as far as putting you on NW. That'll never happen. NW hates FL with a passion, and refuses to have a ticketing agreement with us. There was no way to get you on that direct flight. When you got to ATL you should have been compensated with a hotel, and meal voucher. Sorry that the agent didn't do his job.

Thanks for the info Airtran.....At least I know now why I didn't get on the NW flight!!

Does FL have any agreements with DL? They could have at least gotten me to ATL on one of their flights so that I wouldn't have missed the connection. I am just curious as to why they seem to be so stubborn about putting passengers on another airline, especially when I was stuck due to a MX delay.

Goingboeing, I see the point you are making. It is valid. All I am saying is that a ground stop, as the FAA sees it, is a stop on arrivals to a specific airport.

Airtran737,

I'm all for it. That was a good idea and I believe we actually did just that, or some variation of your idea. Believe me, I try very very hard to manipulate flights, get holds, extra sections, etc...but being limited by the confines of crew scheduling, aircraft routing, and facilities constraints, it can be very frustrating. I spent 2 years in CS in ATL, most of the time as a Sup over the specialist team so its not hard for me to remember what its like for you guys out there.

JP

AirTran-You guys don't rebook passengers on other airlines if an issue is because of weather? As far as I have known, with most airlines, the only time a passenger is not rebooked on another airline is if the passenger is on a free (ie. frequent flyer miles, or denied boarding vouchers) ticket...

Not from what I've experienced. I've seen Business and First Class passengers re-booked, but never coach. Not due to weather, anyway. I have seen airlines rebook on flights going through other hubs, but never have I seen them book on other airlines. The only other exception I can think of is a codeshare, and even then it's rare.

When the aforementioned jackass started making a scene, I'd pull out the key, hand it to him, and tell him that the FAA said it wasn't safe, and the Pilot agreed, but if he still wanted to go, here are the keys to the plane and tell him he was free to fly it himself.

And that's why you don't work for an airline. You can't do stuff like that.

I specifically recall a group of about 30 people not being fimmed on another carrier from airTran when a plane went mechanical (they were flying PHF-ATL-MSP, and the (Monday morning, I want to say 8:00) PHF-ATL leg went mechanical, and they were given a later (1:30 or so in the afternoon) PHF-ATL flight, given hotel rooms in Atlanta overnight, and were given Tuesday morning flights back to Minneapolis, without even looking on other carriers to try to get them home that night.

If that's the case, they actually violated the airline's policy (as I recall it from my days with them in late 2002). Passengers shouldn't have to wait until next-day connections. They're supposed to be accomodated same day when it's the fault of the airline.

AirTran737:

Thanks for the update on the policy.

Airportugal310:

1) Yes, Bostonians DO talk like that. Where the Hell are you from?

2) The Patriots are today's winners. A few years ago, they were the laughing stock of the league and people here in New England hated them! The only fair-weather fans who are any worse are, well... Philadelphia!!!

There was of course a NW flight heading to MCO with plenty of seats available, but they refused to put me on that flight. Long story short, my flight arrived late and I missed the last connecting flight of the night in ATL. I was told "sorry" for all of my troubles, but unfortunately they couldn't provide me with a hotel room for that night either. And of course to put the finishing touches on my trip my flight the next morning was delayed by 3 hours. Haven't flown on Airtran since, and don't ever intend to again.

Actually, in this situation, AirTran is (was) supposed to provide from a hotel room. I wouldn't have put you on another airline, either, but I would've gotten you a hotel if you were supposed to be connecting to one of my flights.

Does FL have any agreements with DL? They could have at least gotten me to ATL on one of their flights so that I wouldn't have missed the connection

Generally, if FL has a flight later on that day that will get you to your destination, they won't FIM you over to another airline, unless the delay between flights is extreme (which doesn't happen in their system that much anymore). Most LCCs operate that way.



It's amazing. People pay $200 less for their flight on an LCC, but they expect the LCC to do things a Legacy carrier won't do for them!

I think we all need to go back and read the regulations concerning delayed and cancelled flightsand how affected passangers are to be handled. From what I have read some of you are mis-treating your passengers and this is not acceptable

It's amazing. People pay $200 less for their flight on an LCC, but they expect the LCC to do things a Legacy carrier won't do for them!

I personally don't expect that at all. The one thing that really got me angry enough to refuse to fly FL again was the situation with the hotel room. I have NEVER had an airline tell me, "Yeah, we screwed up today by stranding you at the airport all day due to maintenance delays and now you are going to be stranded in Atlanta all night, but good luck in finding a hotel room." That was unacceptable by anyone's standards. LCC or otherwise.

AirTran has ticketing/baggage agreements with the following
Delta, US Airways, United, America West, ATA, British Airways, Spirit Airlines, Iceland Air, Midwest Airlines, and I think that is it. I would have to look it up to double check.

And that's why you don't work for an airline. You can't do stuff like that.

Well, I do work for an airline. And if a passenger is getting a little too uppity for his/her own good it is my right to remind them that I am still a human being and if they feel they can talk to me in a sarcastic or rude manner I reserve the right to give it back them to them. Sorry, paying or not there's only so much crap anyone should be expected to take. And if someone bitches incessantly especially in situations that cannot be helped like weather, I will have none of it.

2) The Patriots are today's winners. A few years ago, they were the laughing stock of the league and people here in New England hated them!

Is that why Hartford was so desparate to get them to move there when Bob Kraft was looking for alternatives to Foxborough and Boston said no? Hmmm, thought so.

LH423

hey zippyjet,

see that you had the night off, just to let you know we were in the same situation tonight (sun). She didnt hit the ground until 0415 this morning. Guess its just that time of the year when mother nature puts a kink in things.

Some great opinions and thoughts. Let me clear a few things up for all.

1. I'm not out for the woe is me sympathy vote. I like to tell it like it is with a bit of sarcasm and humor.

2. I know certain things are part of the job; and, I do them to the best of my ability. However, I do not have love these not so fun aspects. Regarding Aisle chairs; I do them and am always seeking ways to improve my ability however, I feel in this litigious climate, we (airline employees) and our company our prime shark bait for the lawyers and the people who feel they can get rich quick via legal actions. I sometimes feel it is like the pot calling the kettle black; right here in our airport, the cleaning crews get uppity and cop major attitude when they have to haul some extra trash. You know, there is sensitive security stuff that has to go through the shredder. They demanded we do their job and make dumpster excursions. Excuse me, we have an airline to run.

3. Surly passengers are grist mill, goes with the territory. As many have mentioned, you don't have to kill with kindness and patronizing. Just try to compose yourself and treat others the way you would want to be treated. The shitty ice storm was a foul ball for all of us; airline, passengers and airport authority but, its an act of God. I've said it before and I'll say it again; if I conducted myself one third as turgent as some of our passengers from hell at their business or place of employment, I can bet you that I'd be someone's prison bitch. I love my job and am proud of it. However, I do not want to be placed in a situation where I have to feel I may need to physically defend myself from excessive abuse. I understand many have some critical issues in their lives and are not being personal but, we all have some crap in our lives that could make us go off the deep end. If you can afford to fly, then I assume you have at least some funds and even health coverage. The medical profession has made great strides in pshycotropic medications and therapy. There's no shame like back in the 1950's. If you are going to get Medieval on others asses, maybe its time to take a look at yourself and seek help. Enough said on this.

4. Regarding New York, North Jersey and Boston passengers; there are good folks and not so good folks. I've met plenty of great people in my line of work. However, in three years on the front lines I've noticed behavioral patterns with people from those locales. And some of it leaves much to be desired. I guess it is more stressful and fast paced. Baltimore still has a some southern traits. We are a sentimental lot and sometimes not too wild to change. Some culture clash potential.

5. Regarding the Super Bowl. I'm a Ravens fan and just want to see someone new win the big game. League parity? Whatever?

And, ending with my usual brand of humor; someone commented about my interesting translation of a Boston accent. Veteran A-Netters remember when spell check was grounded. I have a variety of talents but, spelling, grammar and punctuation were not included. I love to write and express myself but, that technical stuff like Shakespeare put me to sleep faster than European high brow theatre on PBS with British accents or subtitles.  
I'm glad this thread got some hot action!

4. Regarding New York, North Jersey and Boston passengers; there are good folks and not so good folks. I've met plenty of great people in my line of work. However, in three years on the front lines I've noticed behavioral patterns with people from those locales. And some of it leaves much to be desired. I guess it is more stressful and fast paced. Baltimore still has a some southern traits. We are a sentimental lot and sometimes not too wild to change. Some culture clash potential.

From my days as an FL ramper @ ATL, 8 of 10 police calls to a gate were for EWR, LGA, or BOS pax; of the other 2, one would be for a MDW and the other could be anywhere. Having nonrevved on both FL and DL in and out of BOS, I found that FL's agents were nicer than DL's agents. One night, ATL was on a GDP so flights were running late, and I was coming back from a BOS daytrip. I get to the AirTran ticket counter, they actually ask me if I wanted to catch the flight that was currently there as the other flight is delayed about 90 minutes. Now fast forward about four months and change airlines (I had gone from being a ramper @ FL to being one @ EV). Delta had cancelled several BOS-ATL flights that day, including the very last flight of the day. I was booked on the next to last flight and got bumped because they reprotected the pax on the last flight of the day to ATL on the flight I was trying to get on. The Delta agent could care less about helping bumped passengers, paying passengers and non-revs. This agent wouldn't even help find people find an alternate way of getting to ATL (I had just gotten my flight benefits and didn't have the flight line # or a timetable on me so I was sort of stuck.). It was as though this line of people were keeping her from her break or something. Two different airlines, same airport, totally different attitudes. It's not just isolated to one station, as I have witnessed @ several airports agents for various airlines who really didn't seem to be cut out to be gate agents.

I flew on the last FL BWI-BOS flight Sunday night. We departed about 2.5 hours late on a plane ferried in empty from DFW. I did not overhear anyone raising their voices at the gate agents, and my impression was that both the airline staff and the passengers were polite if tired. By contrast, the confusion at the taxi stand afterwards, since the flight arrived as the subway was shutting down for the night, resulted in more raised voices and accusations.

The purser on my FL BOS-BWI flight Friday included in her ad-libbed announcements the fact that we were 25 minutes early on arrival and should give FL some credit the next time we were delayed. I was amused.