Airlines delay flights for all kinds of reasons…weather, maintenance, late inbound aircraft. But a pilot stuck in line at Starbucks?
American Airlines Flight Delayed Because Pilot Was In Starbucks Line
A reader of View From The Wing shares a story of an American Airlines flight from Charlotte (CLT) to Liberia Costa Rica (LIB) that was delayed because the captain was…waiting in line at Starbucks.
“We hear them paging Captain DeWalt. Then 5 or 10 minutes later, we again hear them paging Captain DeWalt. We grumble about how that is typical American that they don’t even have their pilot to leave. Another few minutes go by.
“I go use the restroom and when walking back to the gate, it turns out that I’m walking next to Captain DeWalt. He was late from being in the Starbucks line. When he got to the gate, he and the gate agent chuckled, but I thought to myself what kind of respect do you have for the customer when you make an entire plane of passengers late, so you can get a Starbucks cup of coffee. Or maybe that also tells you what pilots think of AA coffee.”
Passengers reportedly heard repeated pages for the pilot over the gate announcement system before he finally showed up, coffee in hand. Let’s start with the obvious point, which Gary Leff correctly highlights: this says a lot about American Airlines’ coffee.
For years, the carrier has served what can only be described as brown water onboard. If you are a pilot staring down a multi-hour flight, I understand the temptation to grab something better in the terminal.
And yes, even this coffee snob will concede that Starbucks is an upgrade over what American currently serves onboard.
This Is On American Airlines…But This Is Also On The Pilot
American Airlines deserves blame here. When your onboard product is so poor that your own crew won’t drink it, that is a problem.
There is a reason the airline is moving to Lavazza onboard, and that cannot come soon enough. Better coffee is not just a passenger experience issue…it’s operational.
If crews feel the need to hunt for caffeine before every flight, delays like this become more likely…especially in Charlotte, an AA hub that is bursting at the seams.
But unlike Gary, I’m not willing to give the pilot a full pass. Let’s not pretend this is only about bad coffee…it’s about entitlement too.
Pilots are paid very well. With that comes a basic expectation: show up on time and don’t hold up an entire aircraft full of passengers because you needed a latte. There is a difference between grabbing coffee and missing your report time because the line was too long.
At some point, you make a choice: coffee or on-time departure and in this case, the wrong choice was made.
There is also something ironic about this being Starbucks. If you are going to delay a flight for coffee, at least make it good coffee…(which in CLT would be CommonSpace Coffee in Concourse E).
CONCLUSION
American Airlines continues to serve subpar coffee, pushing even its own pilots to look elsewhere. But the pilot also made a decision that inconvenienced an entire plane full of passengers. The upcoming Lavazza rollout will help, but even now, there is no excuse for delaying a flight because you were stuck in line at Starbucks.
This is a fake story. As a pilot I can assure you they can board and get the airplane ready to go while the captian is getting coffee.
You’re not wrong about pilots being able to get coffee during boarding, but are you sure this is fake? Gary doesn’t say boarding was delayed…just that the flight was delayed. And maybe the captain had not checked in yet before making his coffee run? Can a plane board if the captain has not made an initial appearance?
Yes, a plane can begin boarding without pilots present. The only requirement is that the FAA minimum number of flight attendants are on board so they can manage evacuation and safety procedures. Pilots are not required to be present for passenger boarding to begin.
Well someone looked up the delay code on this fight and sent it to me – it was due to crew availability…make of that what you will.
I understand and believe you. I was just pointing out that pilots don’t technically have to be present for boarding to begin. As long as the FAA-required minimum number of flight attendants are onboard to handle safety and evacuation procedures, passenger boarding can start even if the pilots haven’t arrived yet.
Real, fake, exaggerated or not, it points to a bigger issue than the specific incident, which is that the pilots, crews, workers, etc. do not feel well-supported, and the cracks are starting to show.
The pilots and crews don’t feel supported with generous new contracts? Are you suggesting the union failed them?
Airline pilot here. Could be another explanation nobody has offered yet. Sometimes the station managers want the door closed to get their “On Time” departure – and to not damage their station’s stats, and in some cases, not affect their bonuses. Some airlines have supervisor’s pay tied to the on-time departure rate of the first flights of the day, or to the turn time of inbound flights throughout the day.
I’ve seen this personally. A gate agent working a flight once confided to me that there are about a dozen or more passengers rushing to make our flight (we were the only flight of the day to their destination – an island vacation destination). If we can only wait about 10 minutes after scheduled departure they’d all make it. If we didn’t, they wouldn’t get there until the next day.
However, the gate agent’s supervisor (the station manager) was insisting on closing the door 10 minutes prior to the scheduled push time like usual. My 5-hr flight plan was showing us arriving 20 minutes early. And the gate agent working the flight doesn’t have the authority to defy their manager and delay closing out boarding.
But I do! Simple – plane doesn’t leave without the Captain. Make an excuse, walk away from the gate, tell them not to close out the flight yet – “Need to talk to dispatch about an issue” or “Crew meals are incomplete and I need to buy some food” or whatever excuse you want to dream up. “I need coffee, but the on-board coffee isn’t strong enough”. Doesn’t matter – say something and leave the gate. Go in the terminal, kill about 20 minutes, return to the gate 10 minutes after the scheduled departure.
Tight connections make the flight. Flight still arrives on time. Everyone wins – except the station manager who put their bonus above the needs of paying passengers. That could be what was happening here – I’ve seen many other pilots do it too.
Kudos Fred, you’re my kind of pilot. So in your example, you did walk off the aircraft, no ? … What a compassionate gesture and I’m sure the gate agent(s) really appreciated it since they didn’t have to deal with the onslaught of unhappy campers !
What a perverse management culture, but no tthe first time I’ve heard of something so selfish/ridiculous coming from management. And, kinda ‘penny wise, pound foolish’ because in your example I’d imagine the airline would be on the hook for accommodation, transport & meals for the affected pax which I’m confident far exceeded that managers bonus. Unless, of course, that airline was so crappy that they just cut those poor pax loose for another day !
Ya, I dont buy it. You don’t need the pilots onboard to board the plane. Also, delay codes aren’t always accurate, gate agents love throwing delays on pilots, why cause pilots don’t give a shit if they’re on the delay code.
Will AA impose any sanctions on the pilot in question? A very special career shouldn’t be jeopardized for a tasty cup of Starbucks coffee!
I don’t question the pilot’s desire for a decent cup of coffee, I question why he wouldn’t know how to use the order ahead feature on the Starbucks app. Who stands in those lines in 2026?
The pilot’s inability to plan ahead does not constitute a justifiable reason for him to be late.
Sure that delay code wasn’t the ‘Starbucks Caffeine Delay” ? If this is true, I’d hope the pax would follow up with a coomplaint to AA.
And maybe this pilot should have been pulled for a ‘random’ drug/alcohol test due to such irresponsible behavior/judgement.
Talk about entitlement, even more chutzpah than those DL pilots trying to open their contract early, in this immediate economic environment for the airlines. DL already has attributed some operational issues to the pilots’ existing contract (although this may not be credible and represents poor planning in itself).
I’d certainly bet if this was a F/A, there would have been some consequences.
I really wouldn’t want to fly with someone who has these values and who disrespects the company & his passengers so blatantly….
The captain getting Starbucks didn’t delay the flight. Right in the article it says a person went to use the terminal bathroom and was walking back to the gate while the captain was being paged. If a passenger on that flight was still strolling the airport- then the plane wasn’t fully boarded and ready to go. The Captain doesn’t have to be on board for boarding to start. So this whole thing seems fake. If he was delaying the plane with his Starbucks run all passengers would have had to be on board at departure time. And they were not.
Pilots have to walk around the airplane and visually inspect, file flight plans, scope out weather/turbulance along the way, and a ton of other things before they can even close the door. So yes, a pilot arriving late would definitely delay all of the pre-flight things that need to happen (which might have happened while passengers were boarding).
Matthew, this really is VFTW level click bait.
It doesn’t matter if you serve starbucks, lavazza, or Illy… no one is getting a latte on a narrowbody to LIR so of course you’d go to Starbucks. And it doesn’t matter the coffee brand, everyone is still drinking the toilet water from the tanks and that isn’t unique to AA (yes… I’ve seen the water test articles… it’s still all gross water from the airplane tanks).
And as others have noted, your entire premise is fake since the pilots don’t need to be present to board anyway.
Love you, but you’re wrong here. I’ve done my research and stand by my story.
Better that than guzzling the last of his highball in the bar, eh?
Another possibility is that the pilot was on reserve and was called out late to cover this flight. He may have grabbed a quick coffee on his way to the aircraft, still within his allowed callout time for arrival. Fault could be assigned to original Captain for late cancellation or to scheduling for late notice to replacement captain.