Pilot walks off plane for wrong meal
Jul 29, 2011, 4:52 pm
#136
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SEA
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There's no defending this action.
Sorry. There is no defending this egregious act of irresponsibility.
I've read dozens of responses here defending this act based on the pilot's contract claiming he met his part of the contract, and the company didn't.
B.S.!!! How is delaying a flight 45 minutes meeting his contract?
Does anyone want a man exhibiting this kind of irrational and childish behaviour responsible for the lives of hundreds of people?
I'm sorry, but I want someone who has the maturity to know this isn't the way to make his point, in control of my flight.
I actually I might have taken another flight, and filed a complaint with the FAA and ALPA.
I've read dozens of responses here defending this act based on the pilot's contract claiming he met his part of the contract, and the company didn't.
B.S.!!! How is delaying a flight 45 minutes meeting his contract?
Does anyone want a man exhibiting this kind of irrational and childish behaviour responsible for the lives of hundreds of people?
I'm sorry, but I want someone who has the maturity to know this isn't the way to make his point, in control of my flight.
I actually I might have taken another flight, and filed a complaint with the FAA and ALPA.
Jul 29, 2011, 4:56 pm
#137
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: IAD, and sometimes OMNI/PR. Currently: not far from IAD, but home will always be SAN (not far from the "touch my junk and I'll have you arrested" Memorial TSA Check Point) even if I'm not there so much these days.
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So someone at UA has standards regarding catering? An enhancement I can like!
Jul 29, 2011, 5:04 pm
#139
Join Date: Oct 2004
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The company is contractually obligated to cater meals to a certain standard.
They did not, ergo the contract was not met.
The pilot was in his contractual rights to require the company to rectify the situation, just as he could have overlooked the issue and continued on.
He choose to stick to the contract and wait for the situation to be resolved, as he was entitled to do.
Just as we are entitled to opt for another carrier if we feel the current one can't deliver. <shrug>
They did not, ergo the contract was not met.
The pilot was in his contractual rights to require the company to rectify the situation, just as he could have overlooked the issue and continued on.
He choose to stick to the contract and wait for the situation to be resolved, as he was entitled to do.
Just as we are entitled to opt for another carrier if we feel the current one can't deliver. <shrug>
Jul 29, 2011, 5:08 pm
#140
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: DFW
Programs: UA peon (+decades 1K), AA Exec Plt
Posts: 1,117
Why didn't the pilot make the announcement that he was delaying the flight for 45 minuets because his meal wasn't right and it was going to take that long for a new to be made and delivered to him? He could have spent that time walking up and down the aisle explaining how his contract gave him the right to do this and why he felt it was important to exercise his contractual rights.
Jul 29, 2011, 5:19 pm
#141
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Posts: 1,208
All this talk of contracts and nonsense is the reason the unions don't make themselves look good. Is UA obligated to provide a brownie? Yes. And if they don't, you hold hostage the customers who fund your paycheck. If the unions want sympathy, then they should act like employees, not like 3rd party agencies. Unions wonder why their jobs get outsourced? Well...what is the benefit to hiring a more expensive employee when the employee doesn't care about the company being successful - they just care about enforcing the contract. UA might as well fire all the union employees and just go to hiring contractors. Oh wait - that's what they are doing...and the employees wonder why.
Jul 29, 2011, 5:57 pm
#142
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: IAD
Programs: UA 1K/MM, AA EXP, Marriott Plat
Posts: 192
Sorry. There is no defending this egregious act of irresponsibility.
I've read dozens of responses here defending this act based on the pilot's contract claiming he met his part of the contract, and the company didn't.
B.S.!!! How is delaying a flight 45 minutes meeting his contract?
Does anyone want a man exhibiting this kind of irrational and childish behaviour responsible for the lives of hundreds of people?
I'm sorry, but I want someone who has the maturity to know this isn't the way to make his point, in control of my flight.
I actually I might have taken another flight, and filed a complaint with the FAA and ALPA.
I've read dozens of responses here defending this act based on the pilot's contract claiming he met his part of the contract, and the company didn't.
B.S.!!! How is delaying a flight 45 minutes meeting his contract?
Does anyone want a man exhibiting this kind of irrational and childish behaviour responsible for the lives of hundreds of people?
I'm sorry, but I want someone who has the maturity to know this isn't the way to make his point, in control of my flight.
I actually I might have taken another flight, and filed a complaint with the FAA and ALPA.
Jul 29, 2011, 6:38 pm
#144
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25,000 tried for jobs when a new Wal-Mart opened in a Chicago suburb a few years back. I guess they were all stupid.
Jul 29, 2011, 6:41 pm
#145
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Jul 29, 2011, 6:42 pm
#146
Join Date: Apr 2010
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Sure. But refusing to accept deliver of a car that you are paying to drive yourself in is different from refusing to fly a plane that hundreds of passengers are paying your company to ride in. It's the total disregard for the passengers's needs, and effectively using them as bargaining chips, that makes the pilot's actions really unprofessional.
The possible loss of life is not the point of the example. You could change it to abandoning the car in a desert, rather than abandoning it on a freeway, and it would not make the renter's actions any more legally justifiable based on Hertz's failure to provide a 100% full tank of gas.
The pilot's actions in this case wasted a large amount of the passengers' time and subjected both the passengers and the airline to risk of financial losses (e.g. ticket refunds and/or compensation resulting from the delay or missed connections). Some passengers or airline may even have suffered some financial losses already that we aren't aware of, but certainly, the risk increased with the length of the pilot's delay.
The point is that the original claim I was responding to (that the airline's failure to provide two side dishes justified the pilot's refusal to fly the plane) is not legally valid. If anyone is interested in reading more about the issue of whether a minor breach by one party justifies non-performance by the other party, I suggest reading about Jacob & Young v. Kent, commonly called the "Reading pipe case."
The possible loss of life is not the point of the example. You could change it to abandoning the car in a desert, rather than abandoning it on a freeway, and it would not make the renter's actions any more legally justifiable based on Hertz's failure to provide a 100% full tank of gas.
The pilot's actions in this case wasted a large amount of the passengers' time and subjected both the passengers and the airline to risk of financial losses (e.g. ticket refunds and/or compensation resulting from the delay or missed connections). Some passengers or airline may even have suffered some financial losses already that we aren't aware of, but certainly, the risk increased with the length of the pilot's delay.
The point is that the original claim I was responding to (that the airline's failure to provide two side dishes justified the pilot's refusal to fly the plane) is not legally valid. If anyone is interested in reading more about the issue of whether a minor breach by one party justifies non-performance by the other party, I suggest reading about Jacob & Young v. Kent, commonly called the "Reading pipe case."
And why is it only the pilot's actions you mentioned as causing this delay? What grievous action would UA have to take to justify the pilots decision. Bounce his paycheck, blow up his house? If the pilot did walk down the aisle telling the passengers that he was refusing to fly the plane because UA kidnapped his children half the people on board would still expect him to fly the plane as not to inconvenience them. Now I'm being fatuous.
As I stated I'm not a lawyer and therefore I was not making a legal argument. As I also said I'm not giving blanket endorsement to how this situation was handled by either side. This pilot may be subject to further disciplinary action as AD stated earlier. That issue will be resolved by the legal contract between UA and ALPA.
If your idea of outstanding customer service is Walmart (who hasn't violated any union contract because they've closed every store or warehouse that voted for a union) , you really should be flying WN or NK.
Jul 29, 2011, 7:02 pm
#148
Join Date: Feb 2009
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I am assuming they fly several flights a day. Or a couple of legs. If he doesn't get what he asked for, then he is hungry the rest of the day. Den TPA is at least a 4 hour flight. Then they screw up there. Then what. I'm sure that this isn't the first time this is happened to him.
I am a teacher, and often have missed lunch for this reason or that. It does get annoying. And some days if I am really hungry, I make a stand.
I do plead total ignorance of airline operations and pilot work rules. However, I do think people should get the basic consideration of getting to eat during the day. Airline passengers included. LOL.
I am a teacher, and often have missed lunch for this reason or that. It does get annoying. And some days if I am really hungry, I make a stand.
I do plead total ignorance of airline operations and pilot work rules. However, I do think people should get the basic consideration of getting to eat during the day. Airline passengers included. LOL.
Jul 29, 2011, 7:06 pm
#149
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Jul 29, 2011, 7:12 pm
#150
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