A United captain failed a crucial loyalty test during the extended delay of a United flight in Canada earlier this week.
I wrote about the incident here, working through the the timeline of events to argue that United handled a difficult situation about the best it could. It’s not like any airline has a spare 777-200 sitting around with a spare crew and baggage handlers ready to go and several extra mechanics plus parts just waiting for an aircraft door malfunction in remote Canada. Once United realized the frozen door problem could not be fixed by local mechanics, it dispatched a rescue aircraft as quickly as possible.
But onboard, something else transpired that shows a far deeper problem at United than an unintended mechanical delay.
Per the Wall Street Journal, as passengers became more agitated, the captain threw United CEO Oscar Munoz under the boss:
At one point the captain announced Mr. Munoz’s email address over the loudspeaker. “Send him an email right now and tell him how mad you are,” passenger Sonjay Dutt, a 36-year-old professional wrestler from Northern Virginia, recalls the captain announcing.
Really? Is this how an employee should treat his boss? Encouraging the passengers to express anger at something that is beyond the control of the airline or CEO? Does venting to Oscar Munoz suddenly fix the aircraft or warm up the shivering passengers onboard?
Captain’s Fault or United’s Fault?
I defended United over the incident, but perhaps I need to rethink that if the captain is going to assign blame to United himself. Maybe the problem wasn’t a weather-driven problem but a sloppy mechanical problem. I don’t want to believe that, because the facts suggests otherwise, but if a captain is simply going to assume responsibility…
This sub-story captures my attention because it gets to the heart of United’s struggles over the last decade. What does the airline have to do truly win the loyalty of its employees? I fly Lufthansa enough to know that the pilots may strike, but they would never trash their CEO over the loudspeaker. To what end? That doesn’t solve the problem. All it represents is a weak attempt by the pilot to pacify the angry passengers.
Of course the passengers were angry and cold. But why not just let them know that United was assembling an army of personnel to come rescue them? Why not parrot the company line that United was doing everything in its power to resolve the situation as quickly and safely as possible?
Perhaps the captain should have demanded that the airport officials go rouse a few immigration officials from bed so at least the passengers could deplane to a heated terminal. Or at least something more constructive than directing passengers to tell the CEO “how mad you are.”
CONCLUSION
The issue is not the captain’s piloting skill, but his PR skills. I know, I know. Easy for me to attack a pilot from the comfort of my armchair thousands of miles away when I did not have to deal with 250 angry passengers. So noted.
But still, when you encourage passengers to express anger, they get angry. Then they blame you, the airline, the CEO…they blame everyone. Nothing is solved. The situation merely becomes worse. And it made the Wall Street Journal.
Like every commentary I write, my opinion is subjective. But I hope you better understand why I chose to write about this nugget of information. It was not to attack the captain directly, but to expose a deeper problem at United that even pay raises and consecutive years of healthy profit have failed to overcome.
What do you think about the captain’s words? To other airline pilots, is it fair game to attack management in front of passengers?
> Read More: Don’t Blame United For Horrific 20-Hour Delay In Canada
It seems probable the cap was directing pax to escalate their anger, shivering to the point of placing their health in jeopardy and dire conditions to the only source of immediate assistance,after he was unable to get leadership action.
It is particularly fascinating that the pilot in question would have to be quite senior in the company. Only the highest pilots on the seniority list get to successfully bid for a 777-200 on long distance overseas flights. A senior pilot should have more sense, if not more loyalty.
Would have been funny if he gave his phone number out
Pilot should be fired for cause and lose his pension. This is ridiculous.
Man. That just ratchets up the frustration and anger. There should have been a better way to handle this. The leader should be there to do the job and get folks to the destination safely and LEAD. Not antagonize and escalate the situation. Maybe it was just a bad day for the pilot who was already tense about something personal and this was just one too many things to handle. Everyone is human but surely a co-pilot or the head steward could have encouraged the captain to take a deep breath first. Overall this just makes me sad about United and their employees and how bad things are that we keep hearing about disgruntled staff.
To me it reflects a wider issue, that being the continued labor issues with major airlines – both US and Europe. I have always had the feeling they are working for the union, not the carrier. I realize you could say the same thing about most heavily unionized industries.
How would opinion not be subjective?
Just making clear that fact.
Consider this scenario (paraphrased for brevity) —
Captain to United ops : send a plane.
Ops: Can’t. No planes around.
Captain: Let me talk to your manager.
Manager:Can’t. No planes around.
Captain:Let me talk to your manager.
Super Manager: Can’t. No planes around.
…
…
Captain: Let me talk to your manager.
Super-duper manager. Can’t. Mr. Vice-president is asleep in his warm bed.
Captain: Yo, people, Have at it.
What would Captain Denny Flannigan, the well respected and friendly United pilot do if he were still working?
I believe the captain should do his best and relay specifics to the passenger. Something like, “I’ve called operations again. I do realize that it takes juggling to free up a 777 and fly it to this remote airfield. I’m continuing to try to get updates and facilitate the process”
Too bad they couldn’t open up a hanger or FBO lounge and let people go there for a while if they wanted to.
If only Canadian politicians didn’t subvert the will of the Newfoundland and Labrador people who, in 1949, wanted to join the US instead of Canada. Canada said “no, get the US off the ballot”. In the end, it was Canada versus independence and Canada won. The majority wanted to become the 49th state.
If so, the USAF would have stationed more people there and the town would be much larger, having more flights, more hotels, etc. It would have just been like if the plane were stranded in a small city.
Thanks — this is really interesting perspective on the matter. I can’t imagine what those places would be like today had they become part of the union (economy, technology, freedoms, etc.)
Yes. Re: freedoms. They’d have fewer – given how our Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms does what America’s doesn’t – guaranteeing same and equal rights to all of our citizens – rather than all the mere lip-service the American constitution at the bottom line delivers women, children and a few other sorts of folk.
If NL was part of the US today it would have been under govt shut down and the airport would have insufficient personnel or people who are working without pay and disgruntled. Stop invoking the past from decades ago to reference a modern day problem.
Have you ever flown one of United’s crappy old 777s in the back of the bus? This particular aircraft is almost 19 years old. We flew a United 777 last year that definitely was showing its age. Maybe if the CEO would invest in modern aircraft these mechanical issues wouldn’t be as frequent.
I did.
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/11/17/14-hours-economy-class/
19 years old isn’t very old for an aircraft. If you maintain them properly and have some pride of ownership, they will look and work as well as the day they were built.
Petitioning the CEO of United to address the lack of Customs Inspector would have been more constructive.
I feel for the Capt – he/she certainly felt the cold in the cockpit. She/He would have exhausted every possible remedy by the time of that PA message. The crew clearly grasped the implications of the extensive delay combined with so many people exposed to below freezing temps. It certainly was a crisis situation.
Given that Grifter Billionire Elain Chou is running the DOT, Nielsen DHS & Trump is senselessly antagonizing & threatening Canada one of our oldest allies over NAFTA – all I can say is we reap what He Sows for us globally. Expect more of this exponentially as long as Trump is in the WH.
Said it before and will say it again.
The CBSA and local airport authority is 100% to blame here. Diversions to Gander are very common and it’s a total operational failure on their part for not accommodating this aircraft and it’s pax in due course.
The captain probably went thru the scenario as described by poster flyoften (and then some perhaps) and was at a point in his career where he didn’t GAF anymore.
I don’t blame him either.
I agree. I am Canadian and embarrassed to be.
Canada failed 265 Americans in distress. It would have been easy to get them off and fed and into a warm bed.
Sorry but passengers have choices to fly from NYC to Hong Kong. The ones that chose to fly United got what they paid for.
Maybe they guy was a Continental pilot. You’re not going to hear many US Air or Northwest pilots talking nicely about their AA or Delta counterparts. Heck, you’re not likely to hear a Republic pilot talk nicely about Northwest!
I would add that while it’s not exactly what I would have chosen, sympathy is better than empathy. If the pilot can show the pax he’s in this with them and not simply feeling bad for them, maybe he’ll increase moral.
Matthew,
This is an interesting post — thank you.
I suspect the captain said what he said because “United failures” happen over and over again as he goes about his work, and he’s probably sick and tired of an institutional culture that’s still fairly problematic at United. How many times has this pilot had to deal with similar mechanical issues — perhaps ones that could have been prevented — or logistical failures? It’s obvious that the pilot is pretty fed up, if he’s willing to throw Oscar under the bus! And really? Who cares? If I go on Elliott(dot)org, I can find all the executive email addresses anyway, so it’s not like the pilot was sharing super-secret information. Presumably some executive customer service representative or secretary screens all of Oscar’s “angry emails,” anyway.
And, a second thing that you didn’t mention: it appears United has failed in delivering compensation. Had this been a flight on a European carrier, all passengers would be entitled to €600 cash, hotel/meals/ground transport, and rebooking. Reading the WSJ article, though, it appears passengers were promised different compensation by different customer service representatives. Given the scale of this problem, couldn’t United at least have put some executive in charge of ensuring uniform compensation was offered to all passengers (perhaps more business class)? The way United handled compensation doesn’t give me faith that it handled the actual incident all that well.
So now you write an article to throw the captain under the boss? You have any idea how frustrating it can be when you have to manage 250 ppl and be on the phone or 90% time typing on the aircraft com system that is like typing on a motorola razer without a querty keyboard. General public are so clueless when it comes to aviation.
He was out of line for attacking his company and CEO. There is no excuse.
Why didn’t the captain parrot the United line about “we are doing everything we can…” Blah blah? Probably because he tried all that already. Or, because people have really good bulls**t detectors, and know that a line like that usually means no one is paying much attention to the problem.
I’m pretty blown away that you are somehow blaming the pilot for also being frustrated that he’s got a plane full of people that he can’t help. They are humans after all. It’s not like he’s giving the finger to United, he’s just giving an email address out…good way to pass the time without making everyone tense realistically.
It was the language he used, not distributing the CEO’s email address…
Matthew,
Now you are just back pedalling. This whole blog post reads like it was written by United’s CEO’s personally hired PR person. I couldn’t agree more with Cean.
You wrote, “Maybe the problem wasn’t a weather-driven problem but a sloppy mechanical problem. I don’t want to believe that, because the facts suggests otherwise,…” “What does the airline have to do truly win the loyalty of its employees?” “Why not parrot the company line that United was doing everything in its power…?” “Is this how an employee should treat his boss? Encouraging the passengers to express anger at something that is beyond the control of the airline or CEO? ”
You wrote that your opinion is subjective. Well of course it is. That’s by definition: opinions are subjective. In fact this reads like an op-ed column written by a ghost writer for United’s CEO.
What concerns me is that this blog post shows that your own judgment appears to be impaired.
It clear that a plane’s door should not break down so easily despite weather conditions. This is clearly a maintenance issue. Have unexpected mechanical issues occurred before that pilots and crew have had to contend with. Does United have more of these issues? Does the pilot know that planes are not flying in 100% safe mechanical condition? Have their staffing levels been cut recently so that current staff is working at maximum capacity (sleep rest pay etc.) and there is no leeway, contingencies and time allowances built into the process for such mechanical breakdowns?
The captain’s frustration, which obviously appeared to channel the passengers frustration, probably arose after the pilot had exhausted quick rescue options and realized the extent of everyone’s predicament.
For you to basically ask why the stressed out captain, finding himself in an untenable and unexpected predicament resulting from what appears to be a mechanical issue probably arising from poor maintenance practices at United and who is in charge for the safety of his/her passengers and crew, was not loyal enough to his boss and his employer is ridiculous to say the least.
That being said, I am not assigning blame to either the United’s CEO for a specific mechanical failure or the captain for venting. However, United appears to have a problem with it’s processes related to safety and staffing levels. Look into it. United is growing it’s routes and capacity but need to better manage it’s growth.
I’m still blaming the captain for acting unprofessionally, even as you accurately point out the likely reason for his outburst.
I love that you would think United cares enough about me to pay me to write content. It does not. Everything I write is my own opinion and my own thoughts.
United is just a terrible terrible airline. You should see what they have done to their million miles flyers after the merger.
This reads like a puff piece United CEO paid Matthew to write.
I wish…
And here we mere paying customers were under a (apparently) misguided belief that airliner captains, like their maritime kin were sworn ‘loyal’ to their passengers. Us. Thank-you for your clarification ending a naïve assumption of an aircraft captain’s proper priorities keeping our well-being front, center, and topmost in their mind.
It was goose bay, not Gander.
It’s a much smaller facility on way North of Gander.
Matthew before you make assumptions like this you need to learn how immigration works at remote airports. At remote airports, CBSA staff is available on demand and paid for by the airline or the private party who filed the flight plan. St John’s is not even a 30 min flight away, and United could have paid the money to have a CBSA agent up there in a few hours to have those people deplane. The reason they didn’t do it and kept these people locked up for 24 hours was 100% cost driven.
Matthew,
This whole blog post reads like it was written by United’s CEO’s personally hired PR person. I couldn’t agree more with Cean.
You wrote, “Maybe the problem wasn’t a weather-driven problem but a sloppy mechanical problem. I don’t want to believe that, because the facts suggests otherwise,…” “What does the airline have to do truly win the loyalty of its employees?” “Why not parrot the company line that United was doing everything in its power…?” “Is this how an employee should treat his boss? Encouraging the passengers to express anger at something that is beyond the control of the airline or CEO? ”
You wrote that your opinion is subjective. Well of course it is. That’s by definition: opinions are subjective. In fact this reads like an op-ed column written by a ghost writer for United’s CEO.
What concerns me is that this blog post shows that your own judgment appears to be impaired.
It clear that a plane’s door should not break down so easily despite weather conditions. This is clearly a maintenance issue. Have unexpected mechanical issues occurred before that pilots and crew have had to contend with. Does United have more of these issues? Does the pilot know that planes are not flying in 100% safe mechanical condition? Have their staffing levels been cut recently so that current staff is working at maximum capacity (sleep rest pay etc.) and there is no leeway, contingencies and time allowances built into the process for such mechanical breakdowns?
The captain’s frustration, which obviously appeared to channel the passengers frustration, probably arose after the pilot had exhausted quick rescue options and realized the extent of everyone’s predicament.
For you to basically ask why the stressed out captain, finding himself in an untenable and unexpected predicament resulting from what appears to be a mechanical issue probably arising from poor maintenance practices at United and who is in charge for the safety of his/her passengers and crew, was not loyal enough to his boss and his employer is ridiculous to say the least.
That being said, I am not assigning blame to either the United’s CEO for a specific mechanical failure or the captain for venting. However, United appears to have a problem with it’s processes related to safety and staffing levels. Look into it. United is growing it’s routes and capacity but need to better manage it’s growth.
You don’t know what happened prior to that announcement directing response to the CEO. 16 hours inside a crapped up tube in sub zero temperatures with no food and little drink can make people very angry. And the captain was the one there that had to face and placate people on matters out of his control. But he could ask the company to send rescue much sooner, which was what I was wondering about United in the very first place when I read about it. Why didn’t United send the plane sooner? Surely a door problem that cannot be fixed in a few hours is a hopeless cause. It shouldn’t have taken almost an entire day to rectify it with an alternate option when there are hundreds of people, many who are children or elderly, stuck inside. Perhaps the captain finally hit the dead end with his call for help repeatedly and exasperatedly offered the CEO as the contact, which was not incorrect since presumedly Munoz would have had the final say over such matters and thus where the buck stops. You can criticize the captain all you want based on what you read about from a passenger perspective. But you do not have all the facts and directing customers to the boss is not wrong in and of itself. It’s like if you complained to an employee and they told you to speak to their manager instead. The throwing under the bus reference is something you editorialized based on your take from the limited circumstances you saw. And perhaps if you were sitting on that cold tarmac for the 15th hour, you would have been demanding answers from anyone: FAs, captain, and likely Munoz himself on social media.
The whole thing boils down to is United does not want to pay the cost to fly an CBSA team to process the passengers so the stranded passengers can at least get to some shelter(s) that are warmer than the temperature inside the plane where they have already sat for hours.
If this is not the failure of the CEO and the management, I dont know what else it can be.
If the CEO has no idea of what has been happening, then YES, he should be told, by his paying customers on how his company is treating the customers.
Why would United NOT pay for the expenses to elevate the already very bad situation?
Have you done any research before you wrote this article? Obviously you haven’t.
On top of the gross failure of United, the local government and the CBSA also should share some blame – just based on humanity reason, in such severe weather conditions the CBSA should proactively do something even United failed miserably.
It is lucky there is no further illnesses happened on the plane after such suffering.
I bet you if US has the passenger’s right law as strong as the EU, this kind of incidents would not happen.
Now these passengers probably dont even get a compensation from United or just a couple hundreds worth of voucher if that.