I wonder if we would see far less in-flight incidents if more pilots laid down the law like the Delta Air Lines captain in the video below.
Delta Air Lines Captain Lays Down The Law Rooted Around Respect And Obedience: No Funny Business On My Flight
First, take a look at this video, filmed just before departure on a Delta flight to Atlanta (ATL):
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He certainly sounds ex-military…
Key quotes:
“Hey everyone, kindly look up here at your servant leader. Today I get to serve as the captain of the ship. What does that mean? It means I am responsible for the safety of my ship. My crew. My passengers. My cargo. But above all, the rules…
“You need to obey the commands and instructions of my flight attendants. And lastly, I ask that we all be respectful of on another. Any questions?”
I never like the “my” flight attendants line and I think placing too much emphasis on the rules without understanding the purpose behind the rules can be counterproductive. I’d imagine some will find his speech both condescending and grandstanding.
Nevertheless, I’d wager a bet that this captain did not have to deal with shenanigans on his flight. Sometimes a foolish drunk person is going to do what a foolish drunk person is going to do, but when you lay down the law in advance, children and adult children are more likely to obey.
This sort of speech should not be necessary…but we’ve seen so many incidents over the last couple years that I can hardly blame the captain.
And I do think his final request, that we all be respectful of on another, is a good reminder on an airplane.
CONCLUSION
A Delta captain laid down the law prior to his flight to Atlanta, reminding passengers to obey flight attendants and obey the rules.
While there may be softer ways to get that message out, I always appreciate when a captain leaves the flight deck and chats with the passengers. I’d imagine that passengers complied with his demand…
Ridiculous and unnecessary. Save that speech for after an incident occurs.
Maybe I’m a Grumpy Old Man, but I don’t find the DL Captain’s requests to be out of order given the frequency and types of passenger behavior Matthew has reported time and time again. I’d call it reasonable preventive action–better than having a wrestling match in the aisle at 35,000 feet. “The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft.” Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Sec.91.3(a)
Look at how many flights operate each day vs how many have disruptive pax. The odds of a disruptive passenger are quite low
Poor taste, Ken. All commercial pilots speak English. Comments like this belong in the ’50s.
I agree with you. Too many people were raised with the idea that they are the most special thing in the universe. Learn to live in society!
I agree. Just shut up and drive the bus. If we need you we’ll call you.
So, instead of a good warning of what is expected of the passengers, due to the outrageous behavior of some, he, the Captain, should wait until someone decides to conduct themselves in an unruly and often dangerous manner. Good opinion.
@Elly. Why stop there? He should wield a gun and threaten to shoot anyone who dares question anything. It’s not a prison. It’s an airplane.
I can’t believe that all of you are negative on this captain! If people would be kind, mature and respectful instead of acting like entitled, rude jackasses, he wouldn’t have to say anything. Open your eyes. I was on a flight where the captain did the same and I was glad. Felt more safe.
Getting tired of all you entitled, judgemental people who are not thinking common sense.
We will NEVER see something like this on JAL, CX, SQ flights – so embarrassed for American carriers to do this.
Well, duh, their pirots don’t speak engrish.
Actually they do. And they also speak Japanese or Cantonese and possibly a third language. How about you?
Whats a pirot?
During the pandemic, my AA captain on a VERY early morning flight from PHX to PHL told the 20 people on the A321 that he would “turn this plan around and go back to the gate, if the man in FC and the two men in coach didn’t stop it. . .Right Now!” They sat down, we got to PHL and then the entitled FC passenger when back into coach to verbally assult two yound men and then he rushed off the plane. We held the youth back and said he wasn’t worth it and the captain, told both the young men to take the high road. The captain then found out who the passenger was in FC and had him added to AA’s no fly list.
What a day that was but crew handled it well.
Wow, Sergeant Hulka became a pilot.
Lighten up Francis!
These are the “special folk” us First Officer bid to avoid…..there”s an undiagnosed condition there
I was thinking how I bet the dispatchers love dealing with him. Reminds me of a captain who disagreed with me and threatened to use his emergency authority to get what he wanted…He was still at the gate.
I was in the Navy and learned what “Captain” means – legally. I know that the flight deck may be a pain, but a tight ship is a safe ship. Give me safe every time.
I’ve been his FO. I’d fly with him again. He had one too many incidents during COVID.
Reminiscent of a high school disciplinarian lecture on the first day of class. A practiced reminder of the rules.
If you’re going to make a speech like that, at least practice your pacing so you are comprehensible. I wouldn’t let my middle school mock trialers get away with speaking so fast.
Probably only impactful the first couple of times passengers hear this kind of spiel from a captain. Then it will go in one ear and out the other just like the safety briefing.
Interesting initiative, but horrible horrible enunciation. Ends up being disrespectful, particularly to any pax who aren’t native speakers of the language in which the announcement is made.
Imagine having to fly with him in the right seat….
Pure misery.
I didn’t think it was out of line, but not something I would have done .
Never used to be like this the captain having to give the speech before taking off but next time you’re on a flight ready for takeoff depending on where you’re seated look around to see who’s paying attention to the stewardesses when they are giving instructions. Just like this comment .
No point in arguing with Police, TSA Agents, or Airline Pilots.
And we are spending billions trying to end someone else’s tyranny overseas, yet we allow authoritarian brutality to thrive at home.
Appropriate for flights to and from Miami.
I’m reminded of a story written by a marriage counselor (or perhaps divorce attorney) that the professions tending to get divorced more often were doctors and airline pilots who “brought their work home with them” so to speak.
It’s interesting that FA’s are in a role that reminds me of what being a parent is like: I have to have authority with my child but simultaneously, I’m her benefactor. Policemen don’t serve us drinks and food while also enforcing the traffic code so some folk forget that the FA’s are in a position of authority while some FA’s let the authority get to their head. It’s a tough balance.
When you have woke self entitled people in society this is what has to be done. Just look around at the American people these days. They look like slobs, hoodies, tattoos all over, earrings in every appendage. Just trash. I’m actually happy that illegal aliens are coming in these days, it makes it so much easier to not have to hire a bunch of whiney American brats when I can get an illegal that works twice as hard for the same wage.
” it makes it so much easier to not have to hire a bunch of whiney American brats when I can get an illegal that works twice as hard for the same wage.”
There’s this image of millennials and zoomers as spoiled brats but I know back in the 1980’s my father got angry about me dropping quarters on Pac Man. Good times. And the same was probably said of the Boomers who were watching TV all day.
I think that employers like indentured servants (which is what illegals are) because they love having their tukas kissed (another word is arse or dupa). It’s not that they work harder but rather they like the ego trip and even to be abusive. American workplaces are gulags compared to Europe. The joke millennials make is that tech companies give you foosball tables, and catered lunches but NOT what is needed to make the jobs useful for a life: There are rolling layoffs every 2 years (turnover in 5) and the seemingly high salaries are often inadequate to afford a decent living where homes cost twice as much as it did for when a boomer bought it adjusted for inflation.
It’s like the USSR in 1990.
And hey, I betcha that most of the worst offenders you dislike are from the, er, ranks of the cheap labor that was imported to replace those pesky workers who just wanted basic dignity and a decent wage for an honest day’s work.
To make this about travel: It’s useful to go to other countries and escape this bubble that we live in with these cultural narratives that pop like a balloon when you see how life works in other places.
This is hardly “laying down the law” aside from that bit in the beginning about being the captain he mostly just repeated excepts from the safety demo
A little too much for my liking. I’m capable of handling my affairs without a lecture.
You need to respect my authority.
On Spirit the Captain comes out and makes an announcement that everyone should make sure their chickens are properly stowed fully beneath the seat in front of them.
Captain may have been given a concern by the FA. Not enough evidence to have pax removed, but a message sent from the Captain and FA “ we get your vibe and are aware of your presence with us”. Sometimes its good to call out bad people before they act. Secondly, the Captain has overall authority of the aircraft, pax and crew etc. For the duration of the flight, they are “ my crew, my pax” etc.
If everyone acted like adults, there wouldn’t be a need to talk to them like children.
I don’t understand some of the complaints. Never having had to return to the gate and plans disrupted until only recent years–multiple times–due to a passenger, this seems quite understandable to me.
That deserves a mid finger salute in unison
“OBey” is what slaveholders tell their slaves.
See e.g. 14 CFR § 91.11, and also military UCMJ Section 92 for what you need to do, how to do it, and “blindly obey what the FA says” is not part of that.
I love it. Give us more, please, and back up up with some muscle.
By and large, people are shit today. Somebody needs to start cutting off fingers of those who misbehave. Consequences, please.
Hey, captain a$$hole, they are not YOUR flight attendants. Your an employee, a bus driver basically. The attendants are professionals that work for the airline not you. What a prick.
YOU will never get it, How’s that been working in your life?
Rhetorical question, as we ALL Know.
Admit it Matthew, you got an erection from hearing a white man in authority.
Everything he said is also in the Delta safety video that plays before every flight on the monitors, or is spoken by a flight attendant in the safety briefing. He does not need to repeat this and puff out his chest.
He should be in his cockpit and do his job. I’m a grown up man and do not need to be educated by a stranger. Guess what, my parents did it already. If he is into teaching he should be a teacher. Furthermore he seems not to understand whom he is working for.
Indeed that is condescending and the captain is grandstanding. It doesn’t matter that this was a domestic route, that reflects so poorly on the airline. I can only imagine how a visitor from abroad would have interpreted that.
They probably wouldn’t have understood anything unless they were a native speaker of English familiar with that kind of accent.
“Far *fewer* in-flight incidents” (not *less* thank you.) Just sayin’, if you know what I’m sayin’…
The cap’n doth not enunciate, but basic grammatical rules are not adhered to when reporting it, so it seems our communication skills as a nation have deteriorated all around.
Let’s be honest here, this blog is complete trash, Strictly here for the comments and you all did not disappoint.
Complete trash? Come on now.
He probably thinks Delta is trash too. We both know quality. This is always my first read.
Not say it’s bad, but I’ve heard better speeches from Captains that were more succinct and less haughty. A formal “I don’t put up with crap” works just as well.
I tend to agree.
Worth a read for those who don’t understand legal authorities of the Pilot In Command (Part 121, Carriers/Airlines). Fair to argue technique, but not authority (parts D and E below):
121.533 Responsibility for operational control: Domestic operations.
(a) Each certificate holder conducting domestic operations is responsible for operational control.
(b) The pilot in command and the aircraft dispatcher are jointly responsible for the preflight planning, delay, and dispatch release of a flight in compliance with this chapter and operations specifications.
(c) The aircraft dispatcher is responsible for—
(1) Monitoring the progress of each flight;
(2) Issuing necessary information for the safety of the flight; and
(3) Cancelling or redispatching a flight if, in his opinion or the opinion of the pilot in command, the flight cannot operate or continue to operate safely as planned or released.
(d) Each pilot in command of an aircraft is, during flight time, in command of the aircraft and crew and is responsible for the safety of the passengers, crewmembers, cargo, and airplane.
(e) Each pilot in command has full control and authority in the operation of the aircraft, without limitation, over other crewmembers and their duties during flight time, whether or not he holds valid certificates authorizing him to perform the duties of those crewmembers.
I don’t trust him to adapt to changing situations and make safe choices that may conflict with his ego.
Oh my God, the poor triggered children commenting on this post! Just sit down and STFU you whiny losers. Christ Almighty, you mental deficients are probably the ones kicking seat backs and snarling at the flight attendants.
I did his job for almost 40 years at another US major. Being a good Captain is understanding that you don’t throw your stripes around unless you need to and I would add, his “my” this and “my” that, especially when referring to the assigned flight attendants is gauche. He is talking down to people and that is not the comforting and welcoming pilot anyone wants. The number of passenger disturbances does not statistically warrant this power posing. Newsflash Captain…nothing has happened to justify your cautions. Lastly my, “servant leader” & as to “any questions”, I’m yelling from seat 32E, “is it too late to get off your airplane?” I can almost see every F/O of his cringe when he picks up the PA.
Captainship is a real responsibility. Some have given their lives making difficult landings that saved passengers and crew. The “sit down and drive the bus” comment shows how childish and self-centered we’ve become. We can’t even abide a ship’s captain reminding everyone of their roles without taking offense. This is exactly the reason the speech was necessary. Sit down and listen to the captain for 30 seconds.
Flaming douchebag that continues to act like the airforce god he used to think he was comes to mind. It’s not so much the message, but the attitude he displays that bothers me. I wouldn’t be surprised if his support (maintenance, administrative, janitorial, refueling, air traffic control, ground control, food service, etc) don’t think much of him.
Sorry Matthew K – For someone who travels as much as you do, this article is disingenuous, and, your attitude to the Captain’s authority is rude, and disrespectful. Finally, this article just more reactionary glib drivel from an uninformed and ill-educated demographic. I continue to lose respect for the WSJ editors.
1000% I would have got up, walked to the front and said, “I’m not in your church, I’m not in the military following ‘commands’, and won’t be on your plane.” I would have gotten off and asked to be re-booked.