I just went and found a handwritten card with email and cell# from an ORD based captain named John McFadden who piloted an A320 I travelled on. I guess I still have it because the simple gesture, which cost maybe $1 in business cards, the FA's handed out maybe 20, and took 5 minutes of his time was so out of the ordinary and almost shocking that I still have the card. I would not mind having a collection of business cards....
I'm a producer with Good Morning America. We're doing a story on Capt. Flanagan and wanted to share some experiences of passengers who've flown with him. Please give me a call today if you have a good story to tell 212-456-6632.
thanks,
Josh Gaynor
Please let us know when this piece will be aired, or post a URL link if available online! Thank you.
as an aside, there is a thread about denny flanagan on an automotive forum i frequent. another frequent poster there (from macedonia, oh) claims to know capt denny. apparently, his attitude runs in the family. here is an article he posted about capt denny's brother, a firefighter, and sister-in-law who helped save the life of a toddler who nearly drowned:
I just went and found a handwritten card with email and cell# from an ORD based captain named John McFadden who piloted an A320 I travelled on. I guess I still have it because the simple gesture, which cost maybe $1 in business cards, the FA's handed out maybe 20, and took 5 minutes of his time was so out of the ordinary and almost shocking that I still have the card. I would not mind having a collection of business cards....
I just did the same thing and found Capt. McFadden's card (at the bottom of the pile on my desk). I think I'll e-mail him. He's probably a little disappointed that Capt. Flanagan gets the recognition while there are a number of pilots who make the same gesture.
I just received this information on the airing of the segemnts regarding Captain Flannagan. Kudos to United for highlighting one of their best!
Quote:
All three morning shows (NBC, ABC, and CBS) filmed Captain Flanagan in action on three of his flights today: the 6 AM to DCA, the 940 AM return to ORD, and a 1 PMish flight to LGA. Captain Flanagan will appear live on NBC's "Today Show" on Friday, and all three networks' shows will feature a story on United/Captain Flanagan tomorrow, Friday, August 31st. Apparently, there will be a segment on David Letterman's "Late Show" tomorrow night, as well!
But why should the bad employees detract from recognizing the good ones? I guess I'm not sure why you responded the way you did to the GMA solicitation - do you think they should not do a story on him?
The issue, I think, is whether UA recognizes the good ones. If they really were on the ball, and if Higgins wanted to earn her pay, they should use Denny as a model and build a service level around him. At AOL, Steve Case used to ask engineers if their work could be used by his mother. When I was at PwC, ethical questions were framed by the idea that if one's actions were to be reported in the NYT, would the company be happy or upset? UA staff, from ICC to GAs to FAs to Pilots should be asking themselves daily, "What would Denny do?"
If I was in Higgins position, I'd have that question laminated on a card with some service standards on the back and I'd require every employee to carry it on them at all times.
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Denny Flanagan certainly is a credit to UA, but I've yet to experience a bad crew. I've had more great crews than mediocre by about 90% of the time.
I cannot think of a bad crew. I cAAn't say the sAAme for certAAin other AAirlines. Maybe it's because I fly almost all int'l ? dunno.
He's great, and there are many more out there who deserve recognition, too. They're the reason my loyalty remains with United. Kudos, Denny.
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We've removed a lot of off-topic posts from this thread. Before you post, please look at the thread title. It's about one person - Captain Flanagan. There are plenty of other threads you can contribute to if you want to discuss your service issues with other UA employee groups.
Capt Flanagan definitely amped up the halfway to Hawaii game on my last flight. Besides the usual mac nut prize drawings, he gave away 2 UA branded Sinatra CDs and 2 UA History of Flying books. Then the two people who had his signature on the back of his business card that he passed out on boarding, got bottles of wine. Of course, he did the usual personalized business cards for the frequent flyers.
Captain Flanagan was just featured in a piece on the CBS Morning News. For those west of the US Eastern time zone, it was at about 7:15 am, you might catch it in your time zone. He really loves his job!
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I saw him on CBS as well, where they have a video about a flight with him yesterday. I then immediately switched over to GMA where they actually had him in person just minutes later, along with a similar video. They even talked about comments from FlyerTalk, and he mentioned that he doesn't know how to use a computer. What a great guy!
Apparently the piece on NBC is set to air this morning as well. I just caught a trailer for it...hope it's on before I have to head out since I missed the CBS piece.
What a great guy!
