When I moved to Austin more than a decade ago, I had never really given the idea of breakfast tacos much though. But in Austin they’re a point of local pride, and truly ubiquitous. Drawing on the Tex-Mex tradition, they’re a mainstay.
Nearly everywhere you go here there’s a signature spin on the classic, from brisket to just bacon, egg and cheese classics. They’re affordable and easy to eat on the go, usually coming in foil. You’ll find them in restaurants, food trucks, and taquerias, and everyone debates whose is best.
Maybe that’s why I have a special affection for this American Airlines pilot. This past week was challenging for American Airlines, as weather in North Texas foiled operations at its largest hub and there were further challenges at its second biggest hub in Charlotte.
Sometimes a pilot will make news going above and beyond ordering pizza to a stranded aircraft. This American Airlines captain trumped that even – and ordered breakfast tacos for everyone!
Shoutout to Captain Andrew Dezell on my @AmericanAir flight who went above and beyond to grab us breakfast tacos after weather conditions in DFW kept catering from getting on board. That extra effort really made our day! ✈️ #AboveAndBeyond #GratefulPassenger #DFWTX pic.twitter.com/HIrBVWYWHA
— Yaz (@Yazzzch) January 11, 2025
After an emergency landing, a United Airlines pilot ordered 30 pizzas to the terminal since food wasn’t available there for passengers.
Credit: @ladyt98tanya
Here’s an American Airlines captain who threw a pizza party on the plane and another who ordered 40 Papa Johns pizzas after a flight diversion, but said “I’m no hero.” Of course he wasn’t – Papa Johns > Domino’s, but they weren’t breakfast tacos!
Best part of today’s flight @AmericanAir the captain of the flight is so magnanimous that he ordered us all pizzas as we have been stuck on the flight @fly_BUR for over 6 hours and we never departed because of some complicated routing issues 🙂 pic.twitter.com/VQY2AW90l6
— Harsha wears a mask 😷 (@ShellZero) October 13, 2022
Another American Airlines pilot catered an entire flight with pizza hut pizzas from inside the airport.
About 13 years ago I catered an American Airlines Boeing 757 from inside the Seattle airport. It was a charter flight (“oneworld MegaDO”) and our aircraft went mechanical. All of the catering had been offloaded to make room for more alcohol (and because the original plan had been for everyone on the flight to get full business class meals, which took took long). There were packaged snacks for everyone at the at the gate, but with the delay and drinks on the ground we needed food.
We drank the plane dry during the delay and we raided the nearby aircraft. A tug was sent to the edge of the airport to go get more. I went into the terminal in search of food. First class got personal pizzas while I bribed the bagel shop to give us all their sandwiches (which meant they’d need to stay late to prep for the next day).
The perfect accompaniment to pizza is beer, right? One American Airlines captain comped drinks for the whole flight during a delay.
Pilots can actually get reimbursed by the carrier when they order food for passengers. This isn’t something they ask permission for, and they do sometimes just come out of pocket without filing for an expense reimbursement. You may find the expense reimbursement procedures at your company too cumbersome to bother with too, sometimes!
And then there was our last flight on American – AA 471 PHL-PBI on 25 Aug. The catering truck broke down getting to the aircraft. We were boarded anyway (no sense risking D0). Two hours and forty-five minutes later – while we were still sitting at the gate – a catering truck finally arrived to load water and Bischoff cookies for our flight.
Our pilot was fuming, but AA ops at PHL (a cluster **** on a good day) told him there was nothing that could be done. We were told that federal regulations prevented a flight of more than a certain (unspecified) duration from flying without “food” (cookies?) and water for the passengers.
AA ops managed to scare up the catering just prior to the federal 3 hour deplaning limit. But passengers got ghosted on any compensation or even an apology from other than our thoroughly disgusted captain.
My partner and I are booking around AA ever since.
And don’t get me started about the 2 year old claim for reimbursement from AA for irrops in COS and PHL – crickets ever after.
Long as they have the credit card receipt they will get reimbursed and they get to keep all the credit card points a win for both lol
Aw, what a bunch of nice stories! Other than not being able to get to where you’re going on time, these kinds of actions by crew are a win-win.
@retired lawyer,
Let me clarify some stuff for you. Their are no regulations requiring any level of catering onboard an aircraft regardless of length of flight. Your captain was just lying in hopes an airport ops agent would believe him and get something done.
Also the 3 hour rule, doesn’t require deplaning, Just the opportunity for the passengers to deplane. If you were still at the gate with the aircraft door open, then the 3 hour rule countdown never started because you were never in a position where you could not deplane. I have sat on a Delta flight for almost 5 hour hours in Brussels while maintenance replaced a pressure relief valve on one of the engines. We were able to deplane at any point and the captain made it clear we could. Because of this ongoing opportunity, the 4 hour rule (international) never went into effect.
@mitch you are correct about the deplaning rules – not in play so long as the opportunity to deplane exists. However, the law does require an extended tarmac delay kit on the aircraft which usually consists of cookies/pretzels/etc. and sufficient water at a minimum.
Mah man! Reminds me of teachers who would bring supplies and food for students in need. The airline should definitely reimburse and give that guy a raise. Treating people well, especially in times of need, should be celebrated.