Sure, I’m happy to tell you. Going the extra mile for our customers is not “rude”. The fact that you don’t understand that speaks volumes. I don’t pass out business cards to our 1K’s, make my welcome announcement out in front of the first class cabin, or walk through the cabin shaking hands. But if you ever read the updates from our friend Howie, it is very clear that those things matter to our best customers. I applaud the pilots that go the extra mile to do the “above and beyond” things to keep them in OUR airplanes so that WE can make money and GROW the airline. This is great for these FO’s you’re so concerned about.

PS, in my 20 years as a Captain here, I have not ONCE heard an FO gripe about Captains who stay to say goodbye. And I’m not one that routinely does so, so it’s not something that they aren’t telling me for fear of offending me.

How does a Captain saying goodbye keep an FO from getting home? Do you think these Captains say to their FO’s “Last leg! You’re going to stay until I’m finished!!” Don’t be ridiculous

Could be worse, you could work for an airline that asks you to stay behind and help clean out seat back pockets for the next flight. Gloves issued of course....

Bragging? Why stand in the way of a little embellishment to make an argument. It boils down to safety. The decision is always easy when I ask myself if I would want my family in the back of an aircraft under certain circumstances. I call that customer service. A notion I find lacking in some.

Good thread. A couple things I read in it make me want to chime in.

Its a rare thing when Pilots don't just grab their bags and run off the plane these days and when I Pilot does stay on board the FAs are surprised but also very impressed with that Pilot and it serves as a good example to the whole crew to kick customer service up a notch. I absolutely remember the Pilots who stay and have a greater respect for them as people. It conveys a better work ethic and its just classy.

Pilots running off the plane is unseemly enough, but when they run off the plane and take the van (at other carriers or stations where transportation is for the whole crew), making the FAs - sometimes lone female FAs in the dead of night, wait a half hour or more for the van to come back really shows what they are made of.

Even worse is when they run off the plane and then power goes out in the cabin with a full load of passengers trying to disembark. The FAs are reduced to grabbing flashlights or turning the emergency lights on and hoping for the best. Very recently this happened and passengers in the dark grabbed the wrong bags, including FAs bags and walked off with them.

I have a great respect for the Pilots that take that holistic approach to their jobs and do everything they can for the safety and comfort of their passengers and fellow crew. Kudos to them and don't let the grab and goers drag you down to their level.

Just a few observations from my perspective. SWA and AA are my main commute options and I rarely if ever see any pilot greeting or saying goodbye. So to me, it’s not like we are the only group that grabs and runs. Over 14 years of commuting I firmly believe no pilots saying goodbye is the norm from my experiences. Might I add SWA seems to have pretty happy customers, so I dont think pilots bailing and not saying goodbye are a big impact over there for customer satisfaction.

Next, when I do say goodbye from 2L with the Captain and 2 or 3 FA’s, mix in the cleaner shuffle and then I begin to feel like it’s too many cooks in the kitchen. 5 people all talking over one another saying buh bye just comes off as overkill. But then again 40-60% of the customers have their heads down or just barely make brief eye contact to acknowledge us.

I’m not going to get into the debate of what the definition of acceptable level of safety is, but when the plug needs to be pulled, I’ll be at the front of the line. I was talking about the people who seem to take pride in disrupting the operation. Having to stop the show is something to take seriously, and under certain circumstances needs to happen. That’s what we get paid the big bucks for. Taking joy in the aftermath, or making blanket statements about how you’ll never go beyond the minimum standard when safety isn’t at risk is a little twisted though.

I average 3 to 4 flights a month on AA. My experience the majority of the time is pilots stand up front during deplaning saying thanks and goodbye. I've always felt it's a nice touch.

I have never seen someone take pride in an aircraft refusal or not extending. It is always done with safety or customer service in mind. The pilot group you so casually describe is one that I'm unfamiliar and I've been here long enough to know.

As a side note, the blanket denigration of United pilots over the past week on this message board has been quite telling. Good luck to us all. For those who know and understand what it means to rely on the one beside you in the darker times, well I think you can follow my drift.

I flew for a DCI carrier for a few years and used to commute and deadhead almost exclusively on DL mainline. I share the same sentiment and observations as the above. FWIW.