joel payne

What's the matter, can't you take a joke ??



American Eagle pilot tries to amuse his passengers and fails
by Scott Carmichael Aug 24th 2008 @ 2:00PM

Passengers on American Eagle flight 4891 from New York's La Guardia airport en route to Cleveland were already running 2 hours late when the pilot asked the flight attendant to advise the passengers that the aircraft would be diverted to Toledo. The reason given was "an emergency has shutdown Cleveland Hopkins Airport".

Once the plane landed, passengers whipped out their mobile phones, expecting the need to make plans to get to their final destination, only to discover that the pilot had played a prank on them. There was no "emergency" and the plane has actually landed exactly where it was supposed to be.

Needless to say that some of the passengers didn't share his sense of humor. American Eagle has confirmed the incident, and claims the matter is now "a personal issue". Fingers crossed for the pilot that someone at HQ understands the need for a joke every now and then.

I've been on the receiving end of a couple of cockpit pranks before, but I can't say I've ever ran into a pilot who tricked his entire plane into thinking they were going to land somewhere else.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you laugh it off, or immediately write a letter demanding one million miles?

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CRJDriver

I think the pilot is an idiot!

ScreamingEmu

it scares me to think that nowhere in this process did the captain think "hmm...maybe not a good idea"

TristarJS30

Ugh... tell him to go eff himself and get over it... you got to your destination safely. It's not like he said there was an emergency with the plane you were riding on and they were all going to die... so what? You got mad for a little while because you thought you were going to Toledo (wouldn't anyone be upset at having to go to Toledo?) and then you realized you didn't. Big deal.

andy171773

It's one thing if you say "Welcome to Toledo..and instantly correct it letting em know it was a joke"

But to let them get out their phones, deal with the stress..put all their loved ones or rides on "alert"..that's a massive inconvenience..i think all of the passengers that want some sort of compensation for that, should get it

I wouldn't be surprised if this guy gets canned unfortunately...

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1/20/2009

cessna157

This unfortunate joke reminds me of this little oops from the cickpit:

YouTube - Airline Pilot Practical Jokes

III Corps

Something for free.. the American way.

Funny thing is apparently no one in the cabin was familiar enough with the area to look out the window and say, "Damn.. that looks like Hopkins" or recognize the Cleveland skyline.

But you're right.. something for nothing. Hmmm.. maybe the next political campaign slogan. It would work with LOTS of voters.

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Simple solutions are seldom either.

andy171773

Half of all the airports out there look the same to me..so i can't imagine how a quasi retarded passenger would discern Hopkins from good ol Toledo.

But, common sense would figure that there would be at least one smart person on board, or at least someone who had their Iphone to say "no, no we're not there...we're here..no one fret about a thing!"

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1/20/2009

atlmsl

Not funny at all.... get mad about it? No way... I'd just get off shaking my head and go on with my day.

cbire880

Funny to us, probably. Professional? Not at all.