Tag Archives for pilot.
Southwest Airlines has completely melted down. They didn’t just cancel more flights than anyone else over the Christmas holiday – by a large measure – they’ve failed to recover their operation. They keep cancelling a majority of their flights.
The reasons for this are many. SWAPA, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, has something to say.
United Airlines agreed to allow an alcoholic Buddhist pilot back into the cockpit after a substance abuse program that doesn’t involve Christianity nearly two and a half years after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission backed the pilot, and pay him $305,000. The agency argued that the airline violated the pilot’s religious liberty by insisting he attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, contending he should be permitted to substitute a Buddhist alternative.
Most passengers would have been beyond annoyed at the hassle, even though it was beyond the airline’s control. Yet the passengers on this flight were downright pleasant. And it’s because even though the delay wasn’t something American Airlines could prevent, how they managed the delay was in the very capable hands of the airline’s captain – who organized a pizza party for everyone on the plane.
A Southwest Airlines pilot is suing her airline after the captain in charge of flight WN6607 from Philadelphia to Orlando on August 10, 2020 pleaded guilty “to dead-bolting the cockpit door during a flight and stripping naked in front of her.”
As she explains it, the flight was the first time she’d met the man. He said it was hire retirement flight (though he actually continued to fly for 3 more weeks). And he shared that there was “something he wanted to do” before he retired.
A reader was flying from Charlotte to Cleveland on American Airlines flight 1264 Thursday morning when he caught the moment that an entrepreneurial pilot went the extra mile to ensure their aircraft was ready to fly.
Alaska Airlines flight 1080 from Washington Dulles to San Francisco suffered a delay on Monday after the plane’s pilot and co-pilot got into an argument – and the captain walked off the aircraft. The Captain actually announced to passengers that he wasn’t getting along with his co-worker.
Here’s another lesson in ‘never fly a Bill Franke airline’. The CEO of Budapest-based Wizz Air doesn’t want pilots cancelling flights just because they’re too tired to fly, saying “we are all fatigued but sometimes it is required to take the extra mile.”
Too tired? Just fly anyway!
On Sunday aa passenger in Dallas had their bag taken at the gate. The gate agent reportedly “tag[ged] them without asking final destination,” didn’t give customer a claim tag and told them to “them to look for it at [their] connecting airport NOT final destination.” They thought they’d never see their bag again.
The flight’s captain, though, wasn’t having any of this.
According to the airline, they “sincerely apologize” for the inconvenience of the delay of flight W95749, from Gatwick to Larnaca, which they blame on late arriving aircraft and air traffic control. They do not, however, apologize for the pilot – who, if he ever tires of flying for Wizz Air- likely has a future with the Delta Air Lines social media team.
Last week I flew Austin – Washington Dulles and a flight attendant told me American was planning to start flying Austin – Washington National. She was sure of it! I explained the perimeter rule to her and how American cannot fly Austin – Washington National without the Department of Transportation assigning ‘beyond perimeter’ slots that are created in law. It turns out she’d heard this news from… a passenger.
That said sometimes there are real tidbits of news, or at least interesting opinions. So I thought I’d pass along these ‘pilot tidbits’ shared to twitter by serial airline newsbreaker JonNYC along with context for what they mean.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
