Ok, for LUV pilots only....

Has Southwest Airlines ever sent pizza to an ATC facility?

Yes, and ATC said it was delicious
Yes, but only the ATC management team got all of it
Yes, but ATC didn't like anchovies
No pizza, but ATC always loved the jumpseat in first class
No, but ATC always thought Herb Kelleher would bring booze
No, never took them anything

 

Well, Tony, I'm not a LUV pilot, but perhaps I have some insight...

I am an ATC supervisor at a facility with a heavy SWA presence. Seems like I recall we did get something from them on one occasion, about four years ago.

Now as to your--I'm speculating here--attempt at humor--I realize FAA management is often its own worst enemy, nonetheless, I do work hard and bring a wealth of relevant experience to my job. I work shift work and have for 28 years; it's cost me some of the usual life experiences that we're all familiar with, as well as a divorce. I've trained many, many good controllers, and have saved more than one airplane from destruction. So where do you get off referring to me as a stupidvisor?

I'll thank you to remove this entire thread.

 

Unfortunately, I cut and pasted this from another forum, and didn't catch the reference to ATC supervisors that I made here on a public forum. I have edited my post. You're welcome to edit yours, should you see fit to.

To address your question, "where do I get off?"; I was an ATC'er also for most of my adult life, and frankly, my overall opinion of ATC supervisors is very low. But, that's not germane to the topic.

I'm sure you're the greatest. I know you would have refused any gift that exceeded the threshold of value that a US federal employee may receive, so you probably never accepted pizza from SWA. I'm sure that you're not reading internet sites while signed on to an ATC control or supervisory position I hope, like many of your colleagues have been documented to do.

Anyway... I hope you'll appreciate that I edited my original post because it did not meet the terms of service to this site. And now, lets let LUV PILOTS have their two cents, shall we?

 

Hear, hear. Well said Tony.

 

This thread is a waste of electrons.......

 

Wow, great thread

If all it took was a few pizzas to get priority, then why hasn't anybody else sent over some Omaha Steaks? Maybe the others are too cheap or too stupid to make the bribe. Either that, or the whole thing made up by whiny competitors.

 

I don't know about SWA "pizza priority", but I did have an ATC guy in an "unamed" region tell me all about their "MULE" program....Make United Last Everytime.

He said it was because United flights have a hard time answering the radio on the first call. Once he pointed that out, I started listening for it. Try it sometime and you'll see what he means.

 

I heard Southwest gave everyone in MDW tower a brand new car after the taping of an episode of Airline.

Or was that Oprah?

 

Ok, I'll admit to a bit of MULE... although, we didn't have a fancy acronymn for it. I was working SFO/OAK/SJC arrivals / departures to the southeast (Area A @ ZOA) at the time.

The issues then (1989-1998) were that, of course, SFO is a UAL hub. So there were a lot of UAL flights. At the time, the "fancy" new FMS equipped B757's were entering service, and these guys were clearly not used to the equipment. And, they weren't overly prepared for the new, slick plane that gathered speed in the descent. Many complaints of "we can't go down / slow down in this plane".

Plus, they tended to just complain a lot in general.

Then, a new kid entered service into SFO / OAK. Southwest replaced the "Can Do Easy" attitude of PSA. They always made it work. I never got a pizza, but I never had an issue with a SWA crew.

In one instance were a UAL crew actually called the facility to complain about me allowing SWA to leave the holding stack in front of them. They were accurate, I did do that. But, because SWA was actually in a position to exit holding and move on. I have no idea what this UAL crew was doing. I would say that actually calling my work to "turn me in" probably didn't help the UAL cause for me. I considered calling UAL ops in SFO every time one of these guys screwed up. Never did though.

I went to SoCal Approach in the spring of 1998, so my ATC contact with UAL after that was minimal.

 

Ok, the current poll of Air Traffic Controllers (that excludes ATC supervisors and other management) is that of 87 votes so far:

7% "got pizza and it was delicious"

6% thought Herb might bring booze

3% liked the jumpseat (keep in mind, ATC hasn't been in the jumpseat for almost 10 years)

84% "never got anything".