nbs2

The thread title sounds like it should lead to a rant, but it doesn't. Also search for "murder" didn't yield this story, so I thought I'd bring it up here.

A story at Consumerist.com (linking to Elliot.org) tells about a grandfather who was held up by long lines and should have have missed his flight to attend the funeral for his murdered 3 year old grandson. Upon his late arrival to the gate, he was informed by the pilot that the plane wouldn't have left without him.

I haven't spent any time here in the SWA forums, but if there is anybody from the company that does, I'd like to extend my appreciation to the ticketing agent who noted this in his reservation, the pilot and gate agents who held the flight, and all of the management at WN that create an atmosphere where this can happen. I've been pretty solidly committed to CO, but this has be reconsidering my domestic flight options as I can't imagine this level of compassion from a legacy.

jrpaguia

^^

Now that's the kick-butt rock and roll attitude that exemplifies one of the reasons why many of us have learned to LUV WN.

colpuck

Props to the pilot. I wonder if managment will drop the hammer on him.

tusphotog

For what?

These types of things are the rule on WN, not the exception, at least in my experience...

alggag

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Doesn't WN supposedly have a rule that employees will not be punished for deviating from the book as long as it's the "right thing"?

pinniped

It's been my experience while flying that WN is generally more willing to hold a flight for a few minutes than either United or American. It does seem to be acceptable in their culture - even in cases where the late passenger(s) doesn't have an unusual circumstance.

I misconnected on UA at Denver by less than one minute in a year when I was 1K. Two other 1K's were also running through the airport trying to make it too. One of them asked the GA "You closed the door when you knew at least three 1K's were on the ground, plus possibly others back in coach who aren't here yet, running to make this flight?" Answer: "There was nothing I could do - I get in trouble if I hold the flight."

Although I've never seen the scientific data about "close misconnects", I believe that a WN agent would have handled that situation differently and everyone from my inbound flight, regardless of status, would have made the connection.

jrpaguia

On UA, the elites already on-board would demand compensation for such a delay....and post a rant on FT.

On WN, I would root for little non-weather delays like that in anticipation of a free drink...and then be accused of drinking the WN Kool-Aid.

OPNLguy

Re: The "atmosphere" end, I posted the following on the original Elliot thread to someone who opined that the flight was held only because the person attempting to make the flight was an employee of Northrop-Grumman, a major aviation and aerospace concern.
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This is for Jules, who speculated that the passenger’s employer (Northrop Grumman) somehow drove the Captain’s decision to hold the flight. With the utmost respect, please consider the following, and draw your own conclusion.

Some years ago, late one evening, one of my flights text messaged me (the dispatcher) that an elderly passenger had apparently died onboard. They were about halfway to their destination, and although there was an alternate airport about 10 minutes closer that we could have diverted to, the Captain and I jointly decided to keep pressing on to the scheduled destination. The passenger was traveling with her adult daughter, had terminal cancer (and was DNR), and had just been released from hospice care so she could return home and spend her last days surrounded by family. Diverting the flight to the closer alternate airport would have served no useful purpose since it would have stranded the daughter and her now-deceased mother in a strange city where they had no family support. The flight attendants re-seated some of the other passengers to give the daughter some privacy, and special arrangements were made to have relatives and the appropriate authorities meet the flight at the destination.

You may be thinking that the above doesn’t really prove anything, and that the “true” motive really must have been to avoid a costly diversion. If so, please also consider the following.

On another flight from Florida to New England, the Captain called in over Virginia with a passenger medical issue. An elderly passenger was suddenly having “excruciating” pain in one eye—one that they’d just had surgery on the week before. Consultation with an ER doctor indicated that there was nothing they could do for the passenger and that they’d have EMS awaiting the flight’s arrival 1:15 down the line at the airport in New England. Neither myself or the Captain were agreeable to keeping the passenger in such pain for any longer than absolutely necessary, and we diverted the flight to Baltimore, where the flight landed 20 minutes later. The passenger later finished his journey by train.

In the latter event, the Captain and I took action even though we didn’t “have to” and although the diversion cost our airline some money, it was the “right” thing, and the humane thing to do. If the former event would have required a similar costly diversion, we’d have done one, but as I said, the specific situation didn’t warrant it.

In neither of the above events did the Captains of the flights or I receive any flak whatsoever for our decisions. One of the key constants I’ve observed my nearly 35 years at SWA has been the level of empowerment of front-line employees to do what’s right.

To Nancy and Mark, my heartfelt condolences your loss.
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Southwest certainly doesn't have any "exclusive" on employees doing the right thing, but relative to what my cohorts at some other airlines share with me, my sense is that it happens more frequently at Southwest than elsewhere.

OPNLguy

There's also been a follow-on blog posting over at the original Elliot.org site...

http://www.elliott.org/blog/heres-an...-you-can-help/

pinniped

No, no, we'd never do that...




Well, either that or we'd do it so many times that all such rants would get merged into their own dedicated "What did you complain about and what did you get" thread...

saaws

well there's gotta be a line somewhere otherwise you become an airline with 50% on-time arrival stat. At least as a 1K if misconnected and stranded, UA will always give me a nice hotel for the night.

pinniped

The main thing I've always wanted from the airlines with respect to this exact topic is an understanding of their decision process and guidelines. I think we'd all agree that WN's ability to hold a flight 12 minutes for this particular passenger is a positive thing, but I would indeed like to know the standard operating procedure for holding flights for regular everyday connecting passengers.

There obviously *is* a line drawn somewhere, on all airlines, and having at least some visibility into the "norms" for that airline would probably reduce stress on the part of passengers who perceive their own situation as being treated unfairly. (e.g., "We always wait for other people, but they didn't wait for me!")

gmcnail

Southwest has been very good to me in the past, especially when connecting to the last flight of the evening. It has saved me at least 5 times in the past couple of years - 5 more nights with my family is invaluable!

On the other hand, I was stranded earlier this year by AA when the connecting flight - AT THE VERY NEXT GATE - decided to close the doors 5 MINUTES EARLY!! I was by all definitions on time (1 minute before the standard 5 minute before departure door closing), and the gate agents were literally laughing at all of us running to the next gate. No hotel, no apologies - nothing. Full hour the next day going back and forth with an AA rep at corporate with nothing more than a $25 coupon... Unbelievable.

Moral of the story - WN takes care of their customers, while others clearly do not. Have not, and will not ever fly AA again.

lougord99

I disagree. I trust WN front line personel to make the right decision. Any 'standard operating procedure' handed down by Dallas cannot possibly take into account the individual situation. If you give lower level employees the ability to make decisions, sometimes those decisions will be bad but usually those decisions will be good.

bofc

Let me say that I COMPLETELY agree with the 12 minute delay here. Clearly the right thing to do. However, it's not always so clear. For example, I was held up on another WN flight once by about 15 minutes because of a gate agent decision (we were told). One of the members of a college sports team was held up in the security line at OAK. It was a long line - but not unheard of. Yes, it was only 15 minutes. But I had a long drive in bad weather ahead of me and really didn't appreciate it. Was that the right thing? Not always clear.