I feel both sympathy and gratitude toward a Norse Atlantic Airways captain who was delegated the uncomfortable task of informing his passengers that their flight was canceled. Rather than hide from the angry mob, he faced it, and in so doing put his professionalism on display.
A Norse Captain Shows What Real Airline Leadership Looks Like
I’d watch this video first in order to gain a proper context of the situation:
Cancelling a flight is never ideal but cancelling it at the height of the Christmas holidays and thereby ruining vacations for many passengers is even more difficult. I would think in a situation like this there would be a temptation to simply hide onboard or delegate it to a gate agent and skedaddle.
But this captain chose another path and I respect his direct approach. First, he was apologetic, which always helps to soften a blow. Second, he was direct: he explained exactly what the mechanical issue was (one of the engines was not working as it should) and made clear that it was impossible to operate the flight until that problem was resolved. Furthermore, he explained that mechanics had been attempting to fix it for hours, but failed.
Do you really want to fly to an intercontinental destination on an airplane that mechanics cannot fix?
Third, he answered questions and did his best to calm down the angry mob. No, it was not clear when the flight would take off…so much better than a creeping delay that ultimately would have resulted in the same cancellation.
I like that many of the passengers saw his integrity and tried to hush the few very irate passenger who tried to shout down the captain while he was talking.
The person who posted the video above points out that Norse has leased half its fleet to IndiGo, leaving it no room for error when it comes to mechanical issues like the engine issue that scuttled the flight out of what appears to be London Gatwick.
Yes, Norse Atlantic Airways is leasing several of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Indian carrier IndiGo…it’s one way the carrier survives through the harsh winter months, something its predecessor Norwegian Air was unable to do.
CONCLUSION
While none of this was ideal, I commend the captain for facing passengers, clearly explaining the problem, offering a solution (hotels, refunds, compensation, rebooking to the extent possible) and then remaining in place.
Delays and cancellations are a reality of flying, but communication can greatly soften the blow, as this pilot so ably demonstrates.
It’s good to see him take responsibility for explaining the delay in a calm, succinct manner. Calling this “hero mode” is rather OTT, though – this should be SOP when things don’t go as planned. The delay was very irritating and very inconvenient, I’m sure, but safety must always come first.
“Professionalism is knowing how to do it, when to do it, and doing it.” – Frank Tyger –
Honestly it really does not matter if Norse leases planes to Indigo or not, low cost airlines use their planes more heavily, and they just don’t have spares sitting around. Even Norse did not have the Indigo contract, it would be another airline, or Norse would continue to try out other routes. That’s just a risk that I wish average travellers understand. When we choose to fly a budget/LCC/ULCC carrier, we understand that they don’t have spare planes sitting around. Plus the earlier you fly out, the better it is. Honestly, even major full service airlines may not have any spare planes sitting around as we expect. The best example is the current issues with major delays on Japan Airlines’ Airbus A350-1000 flights. One of their Airbus A350 had an incident at JFK and that plane is still sitting at JFK being repaired. As a result, many JAL A350 flights had been cancelled and significantly delayed for December, and there will be more cancellations and delays in January – at least JAL can announce it now. Some of the DFW flights will be operated by 777-300ERs. and some other regional and long haul flights will downgrade from 77W to 787s.
However I really am thankful that UK still has some of the best pilots out there. His honesty is what all pilots around the world can learn from. Don’t sugar coat it!
PS. Travel Insurance is a MUST now and please read the contract carefully too.
I hope the passengers affected by this cancellation actually receive compensation, because in my experience Norse handles claims disgracefully. I had a delay of well over three hours and submitted a compensation claim which Norse completely ignored. When I escalated the case to CEDR (days after Norse became a member), they responded with an outright falsehood — claiming the delay was only 2.5 hours and blaming bad weather. That claim is completely untrue. I have FlightRadar24 screenshots showing aircraft taking off and landing normally, official weather records for LGW on that day showing no disruptive conditions, and the full flight data clearly proving the delay exceeded 3.5 hours. I am currently waiting for a response from a CEDR adjudicator. This wasn’t a misunderstanding — it was a deliberate attempt to misrepresent the facts. I genuinely hope other passengers aren’t treated this way or misled as I was.
Not having travelled much until lately and learning the ins and outs of what to do when you flights are delayed, we feel were treated not well by Lufthansa for a flight delay. We flew out of Frankfurt to Budapest and in mid flight we were turned around back to Frankfurt. They did not announce why, but said they were going to try to find another plane if possible. So we all disembarked to hopefully be told by text, email or announcement of a new plane to continue to Budapest. We were left in limbo for hours standing in a very long line for Customer Service. Note: this was the day of the Crowdstrike Debacle for air travel. However, scuttlebutt going around, since Lufthansa kept us in the dark as to why we had to return, was there was smoke in the cockpit, Crowdstrike issues,…. Four hours later we boarded another flight but we only knew of it by other passengers finding out and having to run fast to the gate to make the flight. Still noting, nada from Luththansa about this flight. We arrived in Budapest hours later grateful so as to not miss our river boat cruise the next day. I say all this because a Hungarian said to apply for compensation for the delay. We filed our paperwork and Luthansa said we were not eligible for it. So why did a European say we were who flies a lot and Luthansa says we are not? Just trying to learn the ropes of haven’t travelled overseas in over 30 years.
Perhaps the CEO’s of the Big 3 U.S. carriers could learn a lesson about integrity from this instance. But they won’t.