Originally Posted by
drsan
So, the not being told the "why" is the essence of the problem. Had they said, "we need more thrust in order for the SAN pax and our NW crew to avoid a curfew violation", I bet the MKE pax would have been fine with it.
This is absolutely true. When anyone (in this case NWA) doesn't provide accurately timely information, it is only human behavior to naturally assume the worst and fill-in-the-blanks with worst case scenarios. Further, when NWA keeps changing the information and the 15 min becomes another 15 min, do you really blame pax for being skeptical? Keep in mind this isn't just a NWA problem, rather a travel industry problem in my opinion (equal to hotels saying sorry we don't have upgraded rooms available or we're overbooked and magically a room appears).
Did it every occur to anyone that the crew doesn't always have the whole story? How does the OP not know that the SAN passengers weren't briefed? Again, even if we did know the whole story, there isn't time to explain the gory details of every step that was taken to arrive at the decisions made.
I bet if you survey an entire plane load of passengers very few listen to the crew and could repeat the instructions or details from an announcement... even elites. I don't know how many times I've had a boat load of people ask me "why", when I just made a PA. I don't know how many times people ask where the planeside baggage will be, when the FA JUST made the announcement.
This isn't going to be a thread about crew vs. passengers. I'm done here.
I never implied that the crew/GA was a liar or withheld information. I know that they are in the same boat as pax are and need to get from A to B. It is unfortunate and NWA ops' fault for giving misinformation and thereby leave the crew to deal with angry pax. That's why I never get mad at GA's when delays/mechanicals/changes happen, I know it isn't their fault.
And I would disagree that pax don't listen to announcements, I think pax do listen particularly when there are delays. Again, my frustration occurs when something is announced and then changed. In this specific case, how does mechanics are on their way and need to sign off for a few minor things, nothing major, just stuff inside the aircraft - it'll only be 5 min; turn into a 20 min external inspection of the plane? Again, not the crew's or pilot's fault, but clearly a miscommunication from nwa ops that reflects badly on the entire company - crew and all.