Sorry I didn't realize I shouldn't have posted the pilot's name. Not that AA can't figure it out from the flight #, but another pilot friend of mine said the guy could get in trouble with the company for assisting the pax. I guess that means my friend should avoid writing AA or AE to commend the pilot's kindness as well? Oops. Prob too late to redact the paragraph about him helping. Moderator: pls let me know if you want me to scrub out that section.
It would have cost $1,200 to rent a van from GJC to SLC. Aside from that, there's the whole liability + political issue if something were to happen en route to SLC on the road. So they had to stick with air travel. Personally I think they got the double jinx: group tix + govt rate. Perhaps this ranks them slightly above the PL pax in the cust svc mindset?
I'll be interested to see if my friend gets any extra miles for the SLC-GJT-LAX-SLC legs. Hah. Although LAX-SLC would be SkyMiles.