A little while back the FO and I did the ole' mistake the departure time as the report time. Didn't realize it until the van ride to the airport when I get a call from Tracking saying the plane is loaded with passengers and the FAs and Gate agents are asking where we were. Oooops! Any way we get to the aircraft and I make an announcement that we arrived late for crew rest legalities for getting in late last night (total lie). Only after did I find out that we were already thrown under the bus and ran over a few times. Tracking called the gate agent back and told her exactly why we were late, she told the FAs then the FAs made an announcement to the passengers on what we did.

The moral of the story is that there may be honor among pilots, but do not expect that same honor between work groups (and I have learned this lesson through numerous other examples).

 

I’m all for short and sweet when things are going well. Those are the perfect days to use that extra time to thank Concierge Keys and stuff.

Why not apologize for ATC/WX? “Although this weather / air traffic delay is out of our control, we sincerely apologize for the disruption and we’re doing everything in our power to get you there….blah blah”. The sorry isn’t admitting personal fault. It’s an acknowledgment that their plans are being disrupted.

Why throw “the company” under the bus? Passengers see us as the company. They don’t care whether it’s the pilot’s fault, the ramp’s fault, the CEO’s fault…they just want to feel like the airline actually cares about them and about delivering on the product they bought.

We think like union members (as we should). At times it’s us vs the company. But you’ve gotta remember that most paying customers here don’t think that way. They paid for a service and when we don’t deliver, we ALL look bad. Even when it’s not our fault.

 

I want to be treated like a professional, so I act like one. Do I wish the company cared enough to actually provide us with specific guidelines on how to act during IROPS? Absolutely. It’s frustrating to see other airlines reimbursing Captain’s pizza orders for passengers during long delays, while we can barely get pretzels distributed.

But I don’t use that as an excuse to exude a lack of professionalism. And I don’t let the unprofessionalism of other work groups affect how I act. I’ll communicate, I’ll apologize, I’ll thank loyal passengers time permitting. All of those things are a part of doing this job well.

 

Weather and ATC are not our fault. I will explain the situation and say we are trying remedy it in any way possible, show empathy, etc. But taking the blame is backwards and nonsense.

that being said… if the weather delay is exacerbated by general incompetence, poor planning, lack of equipment, etc, I will absolutely apologize. And when I say “throw the company under the bus”, I include myself. We collectively failed the customer, and we should own it. What ****es me off to no end is the company shirking responsibility when ATC/WX is only partially responsible for a cancellation/excessive delay. They get away with murder sometimes, just to save a buck on vouchers… THAT ****es off customers. All they see is injustice and indifference by corporate. I will direct the most aggrieved pax on who to contact to voice their displeasure and get properly compensated

 

Thanks for the clarification, I do appreciate your approach.

One thing we all have in common is complete frustration with other parts of the company not doing their jobs to take care of passengers, especially when things aren’t going well. It aggravates me to no end when I for example see a gate agent ****ed off with passengers when the flight is delayed or cancelled. They act like it’s an inconvenience to do their job assisting passengers.

It’s completely absurd, it’s toxic, and someone in a position of power at the company needs to start addressing it. Right now it’s crickets from the top…