When the late televangelist Robert Schuller seemingly missed his American Airlines connection in Dallas, he did not take “no” for an answer. While I’m not sure what lesson we can draw from this, I suppose it never hurts to ask…?
Televangelist Robert Schuller Claims He Convinced American Airlines Captain To Open Aricraft Door And Reconnect Jetbridge
It’s 1984. Robert Schuller, the televangelist who built the Crystal Catedral in Garden Grove, California was at the height of his career. He had spent the week in Washington, DC speaking at a conference and was on his way back on a Saturday evening to Orange County, California in order to preach on Sunday morning in his church.
As was the case then and is often still the case today, his flight from Washington to Dallas ran into weather issues (late spring thunderstorms can cause all sorts of issues in central Texas), delaying his arrival at Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport (DFW did not become Dallas/Fort Worth International until 1985 even though it featured international service from it inception, including on Concorde).
With a connection time of only 40 minutes, he and his wife missed their connection to Orange County, CA (SNA). Upon landing at DFW, though, he was directed to run to try to catch a flight to San Diego. Driving up from San Diego to Orange County is about the same effort as driving from Los Angeles down.
So they ran as best they could (his wife Arvella was wearing high-heeled shoes), but when they reached the gate they saw the jetbridge had already been pulled back, even though the aircraft still had not pushed back.
Schuller ran to the window and signaled to the captain…a hail Mary approach…and waved to him. The captain waived back…as in goodbye. As Schuller tells the story, he kept waving and eventually, the captain opened the aircraft door, the jetbridge was reconnected, and he and his wife (and three other passengers also connecting from Washington, DC) were allowed to board.
video credit: Hour of Power
So what happened? Was it God? Was it Schuller’s determination? Or maybe just a kind-hearted controller who realized it was the last flight of the night and stranding five people was unnecessary?
It’s an entertaining clip, though I’m not sure we can learn much from it. I do think it pays to ask…it never hurts to ask. Maybe it was his wave that convinced the captain not to leave five people behind. Or maybe it was totally out of everyone’s control…
Well, back in 1985 things were way more flexible than today. At that time it is probably that this would happen to anyone. I actually remember of gate doors being opened for me and other passengers that were running late because of a connection. If the plane was still parked at the gate it was not a big deal to simply reopen the door at that time. Nowadays, gate agents love to make people’s lives miserable and close the gate as soon as possible. Still remember last year when a UA gate agent in Denver closed the door basically 20 seconds before 10 passengers arrived at the gate because our earlier flight landed late. Even though UA sent me a text that they were holding the plane, the gate agent was extremely obnoxious and did not open the door again with the plane still sitting there.
Things were very different back in 85. In 1985, you didn’t even have to show an ID when flying on a domestic flight. You didn’t have to have a ticket to go to the gate, just go through a metal detector. Your ticket could be booked under an initial rather than a name. I had friends who were a married couple– Stan Smith and Sylvia Smith– they booked all flights under S Smith, and had their frequent flyer membership under S Smith too, so that all benefits and miles were pooled.
You could resell your tickets in the newspaper– because ID wasn’t required to fly. If the ticket was under something like J Smith, anyone could use it. I had a friend who made great money even in the early 90s by buying desirable flight tickets early and re-selling when the price went up– a Friday evening ticket to a big city (in our area this was Atlanta) would always sell. Also, when you resold the ticket, you kept the frequent flyer miles and benefits.
Re-opening the jetway door in those days was no big deal.
Curious what you think the right amount of time 150+ other passengers should be forced to wait for you on the plane?
Is your time more valuable than everyone else’s at 1 minute, 15? 30? 60?
How is an agent supposed to know whether you’re truly running to the gate or taking a huge dump in the bathroom or just drunk at the bar?
It’s fun to attack agents by pretending your time is more valuable than others, but the reality is you represent yourself and a gate agent shouldn’t hold the plane and inconvenience the hundreds already on board Any more than necessary
What part of “10 passengers arrived at the gate because our earlier flight landed late” and “UA sent… a text that they were holding the plane” led you to conclude they were taking a big dump or drinking at a bar? Di
Another factor is what the tower had told the Captain. If the response to the Captain’s “ready to push” call was “standby… there is another aircraft coming in to the gate next to you” the Capt may well have decided he wasn’t going anywhere soon, so reopening the door is not a big deal.
I’ve had doors open for me…
Northwest Airlink/Express Airlines I at CHA, mid 1990’s. Banged on the glass door. They came back and opened it, then opened the door of the Saab 340.
United Airlines at IAH. They forgot to close the jetway door. As I was running in the jetway, the agent said “stop” and held out her hand so that I would not fall on to the tarmac as she was pulling the jetway back. They opened the door of the plane!
Only Televangelist I ever liked.
If he wasn’t making enough money to have his own jet, he must have not been a very good televangelist.
“During the 90’s his televised sermons were regularly viewed by an estimated audience of 20 million. Schuller’s weekly telecast of his sermons which began in 1969 was one of the first instances of such weekly televised church services, and was the world’s most widely watched hour-long church service ever.”
No Santastico, gate agents do not love to make people’s lives miserable. Perhaps they are just mirroring your attitude? Sure, there a few bad apples in every profession, but gate agents are not out to make your flight a disaster. If I had a $1 for every time a passenger told me “Reservations told me they are holding the flight!” I could have retired at the age of 25. Here’s the problem with that: Reservations (or any department) can tell you anything they want…they aren’t even in the same city and rarely, if ever, do they call the gate to let the gate agent know what’s going on. I’ve had passengers ask me about a new delay that I was unaware of because Dispatch/Operations advised Reservations to start calling passengers but no one ever told us at the gate! There are very few reasons any delay at the gate is actually caused by the gate agent. Yet the gate agent is the brunt of all the screaming passengers each time a delay occurs. Although I no longer work as a gate agent, I remember how fun the job was when everything was running smoothly and conversely how awful the job was when there were delays that were 100% out of my control. Imagine driving into work knowing there are thunderstorms forecast for the day and you’re going to get yelled at by 800-900 people for the next eight or nine or ten hours! As far as holding the flight, if it were in our power to do so we have NO problem with that whatsoever, but it’s not up to the gate agent. With airline bean counters so focused with on-time metrics if you take any delay (such as holding the flight) that you were not authorized to do…you can be fired from your job. So the next time you think a gate agent is trying to make your life miserable please ask yourself: “Did this gate agent wake-up today thinking ‘I would like to make someones life terrible today’, or are they only following orders less they lose their job?”
Thank you for this. It makes me feel as though I must have missed even more terribly important things that happened back in 1985.
Nowadays the Captain would give him the finger and have him arrested.
I had the door opened for my family (2 adults and 2 kids) in Chicago (ORD)
It must have been in 1999.
Btw. last month I took domestic scheduled flights in Bangladesh (DAC-CGP-DAC) and did not need an ID of any kind.
BTW, this is the same guy that pulls the “Do you know who I am?” card when he throws a temper tantrum in First Class.
Was there a lawsuit or was that Osteen?
No lawsuit (imho because courts delt with him too leniently due to his celebrity) but an allegation of bad behavior and assault. The assault I am not convinced of and am willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but his attitude and behavior on the aircraft seems highly plausible– especially when we consider the personality types all too common in televangelism. Search for “2 Versions of Schuller Incident Described” and a fairly objective 1997 article (before LA Times went nuts) should come up. It was a minor scandal in its day.
My experience was not so dramatic, but only once in my life did a gate agent open a door for me. And it was actually on a recent AA flight. But the experience afterwards was not so great:
https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/aisle-privileges
Religious ilk never lie so this definitely checks out.
LOL
Hopefully the flight didn’t take a chargeable delay, if it did, as a CSM I would have coded it as ground traffic or local weather.
Grifters gotta grift.
Televangelist should translate to thieving trash…