Pilot Stops Plane for Family of Murdered Son

[enzo1]

What's this? News from an airport that doesn't make you want to vomit blood in outrage? Finally. A grandfather caught up in airport security gridlock made it to his son's funeral when his flight's pilot refused to depart without him.

The man, whose grandson had been murdered only days earlier, arrived two hours early for his domestic flight. Thanks to the complete indifference of the security staff he encountered, he was given no assistance as he struggled to make it through security in time for takeoff. Finally, having arrived at his gate in his bare feet, 12 minutes late, he was greeted with the following: "Are you Mark? We held the plane for you and we're so sorry about the loss of your grandson."

The pilot, informed of the family's loss, had delayed the flight by 12 minutes to allow the man to board. When the man's family thanked the pilot, he, in a line that I'm sure will be delivered in the film version by John Hamm, replied only: "They can't go anywhere without me and I wasn't going anywhere without you. Now relax. We'll get you there. And again, I'm so sorry."

It's not often you get to call an airline classy—or really anything other than completely awful, but way to be the exception Southwest.

[chocolatelab]

Heard this story last night. I love southwest. The details on the grandsons passing are enough to make you sick. I just dont understand people.

[slodave]

Saw it earlier. Great thing the pilot did. Even better that SW saw the good deed and sided with the pilots decision. Bravo!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The sad thing is if it were any other airline, the pilot would absolutely have been fired for delaying the flight. Schedules are everything in the aviation industry. I once saw a guy get a written reprimand for a one minute delay that he couldn't put onto weather or ATC or something else.

Great story. At some point we need a reality check in this country that people actually matter more than procedures, protocols, special interests or money.

[slodave]

Jeff, while I agree. A spokesperson basically agreed as well, saying that it's normally "frowned" upon, but in this particular instance, it was the right thing to do.

[UconnTim97]

Great story. I can only imagine.

[Embraer]

Stuff like this happens all of the time. This instance works out as good marketing for Southwest, right?

I distinctly can think of at least 4 instances (in the last year) where my Captains delayed flights for military, people going to funerals, or some other important reason. When the delay was coded to flight crew, a simple chat with either the chief pilot or station manager got it squared away. No carpet dance, no written reprimand, and certainly no firing.

Nice story, but stuff like this isn't really that uncommon.

[Christien]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

At some point we need a reality check in this country that people actually matter more than procedures, protocols, special interests or money.

Well put.

[strupgolf]

When I fly, not often, I always look at Southwest first. Class airline.

[jyl]

Good for Southwest. If you have a chance, send them an email and tell them what you think about this pilot's decision.

[Joeaksa]

IMHO Southwest airlines is the ONLY one who would do this. They deserve all the great publicity they can get and the TSA deserves the brown material.

I did much the same thing last month for one of our pax who was delayed in reaching the plane. No death in the family or the like, just a nice guy and he was stuck in traffic behind an accident. We helped make sure that he made it to the airplane and made the flight.

[Embraer]

one specific example from last august. one of my Captains (republic airlines, DBA US Airways) did the exact thing. After taking the delay, he came over the PA to calm the pax down. Once the pax were aware of WHY the delay was taken, everybody understood.

As I said, I can think of 4 specific incidents in the last year that were similar to this. We used them as case-studies for teaching our customer service managers.

to say that Southwest is the ONLY airline is hogwash.

[MotoSook]

I try to fly SWA when ever I fly fo work. Been screwed over by United and Delta too many times. More than once SWA has delayed flights to allow my connection to happen...United..******* rats...always playing the delay game to packa plane when the undersell the other flights.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Embraer

to say that Southwest is the ONLY airline is hogwash.

Ok, so other airlines do it sometimes. SWA bends over backwards to take care of their people. Not saying that the other airlines do not but they sure do not do it to the extent that SWA does.

No, I do not work for them, just a very happy customer.

[Rick Lee]

I went to a PR biz event a while back and the speaker told a story about how on the ball SW is. IIRC, he was on a Delta flight that was delayed for mechanical reasons and they were stuck at the gate on the plane. These days everyone has Blackberries and this guy, who's very well-known in the PR world with followers into the six digits, sent a tweet to Twitter about the situation. SW has someone whose job it is to monitor their image in the social media world, happened to have a spare plane and crew at that airport and arranged to take the whole Delta flight to its destination. They probably won over a lot of business from that one, leaving Delta with (more) egg on its face.

[Don Plumley]

I too read this story with both a tear in my eye and another dose of admiration for the people at Southwest. More than once I've made or been on a connection that was held for a short time because it was the last flight out and the crew said they thought waiting for 15 minutes was better than having a few people sleep at the airport.

Isn't common sense a wonderful thing when executed with compassion?

[Embraer]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Ok, so other airlines do it sometimes. SWA bends over backwards to take care of their people. Not saying that the other airlines do not but they sure do not do it to the extent that SWA does.

No, I do not work for them, just a very happy customer.

Southwest is a great airline, and all of my buddies who fly for them love it. If I was still flying commercially, it would be certainly be a place that'd I want to work for.

Joe, did you ever get a chance to fly on Midwest Airlines? (or anybody for here, for that matter). Too bad they couldn't stay afloat...THEY truly were the "best care in the air."

[peppy]

Good example of what a businesses employees can do, if they know the co. will stand behind them.

I will be flying Southwest in March for the first time.

[cgarr]

PIC is the way it should be not CEOIC!

[Moses]

I fly Southwest a lot. I love the airline. The flight attendants keep things loose and fun. Changing plans last minute is a breeze. American and United never miss an opportunity to treat me badly.

Good for Southwest!