“Twilight in Canyon Blue” by Jerry Anderson
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In an act of extraordinary kindness, a Southwest Airlines pilot delayed his plane by 12 minutes to ensure a passenger would be able to say goodbye to his murdered grandson.
The man’s three-year-old grandchild had been killed by his daughter’s live-in boyfriend in Denver and was due to be taken off life support ahead of donating his organs…
Having been in Los Angeles on business, the man’s wife had arranged for him to transfer at Tucson airport in Arizona onto a flight bound for Denver to be with his bereaved daughter…
Yet, despite arriving at Los Angeles International Airport two hours before his flight was due to depart, lengthy check-in lines meant he faced a race against time to board on schedule.
Even after sprinting from the security checkpoint in his socks, the grandfather still arrived at the departure gate 12 minutes late…
According to a letter written to travel blog Elliott.org by the man’s wife, he was greeted by the pilot and ticketing agent with the words: ‘Are you Mark? We held the plane for you and we’re so sorry about the loss of your grandson…’
The letter continues: ‘As my husband walked down the Jetway with the pilot, he said, “I can’t thank you enough for this.”
‘The pilot responded with, “They can’t go anywhere without me and I wasn’t going anywhere without you. Now relax. We’ll get you there. And again, I’m so sorry.”’
Thanks to the kindness of the pilot, the man was able to reach his daughter in Denver and bid farewell to his grandson…
A Southwest spokesperson said the airline was ‘proud’ of the pilot’s behaviour.
My kind of pilot. My kind of airline. Rare enough that a corporation remembers that human beings are the source of their income.
Thanks, Mr. Fusion.
Very sweet. So why is it news? Don’t planes get held for all sorts of passengers all of the time? Just asking.
The pilot should be brought up on charges.
Certain airlines like Southwest and WestJet have hundreds of stories like this. Their staff are major shareholders and the senior management of both companies spend time in airports each week (check in, gates, etc) actually talking to customers.
A coworker was phoned at 4 am one morning a couple of years back and was told his mother was taken to the hospital and probably wouldn’t survive. He stuffed a couple of things in a bag and went to the Calgary airport. He walked up to the WestJet counter and said I have no ticket and I have to get to Vancouver right away because my Mom is in the hospital. In 15 minutes the WestJet agent had given him a ticket (free) , walked him through security on to the plane, and made sure he was settled. When he arrived in Vancouver a WestJet employee took him off the plane and to a limo they had rented to take him to the hospital.
When you tell WestJet employees that story they say “So what’s your point?” They see that as standard behaviour. They are the fifth most profitable airline in the world with only 80 planes. I wonder why?
Theres a lot of nice people in this world.
Meanwhile, the guy in seat 21A just missed seeing his dying mother by 12 minutes.
There is no doubt that Southwest Airlines is the best airline in America. They allow their employees to act with more freedom than the other union-dominated carriers. Southwest started as a low cost carrier but now they are our best. Also, all of their planes are American built 737s (safe, reliable, relatively large) and not those small mini-jets that the other carriers use. I’d bet that most of their pilots are well paid trained to fly by the US Air Force. The flight attendants are usually in a good mood and are occasionally entertaining. I will pay extra to fly on SWA.
To all you naysayers: pfft. A 12 minute delay is nothing. Happens all the time. Besides, the pilot can easily make up his schedule after getting airborne.
Nice story. Very touching and Southwest benefits greatly in PR.
Similar story http://bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12043294
Of course it couldn’t happen on the railways now because they have a passenger charter and performance targets to ensure customer service metrics are achieved.
Thats the difference between companies that employ freindly people like SW or Westjet and those with a corporate friendliness policy like UA.
Skippy is right. A 12 minute delay is actually on-time.
So this guy obviously wasn’t Too Fat To Fly then.
#6 Seems like most of the pilots were from the Navy. Well they land like it. Meanwhile, the article doesn’t mention his body scan…
Southwest is kicking the other airline’s asses.
See? This is how it’s supposed to work. Southwest Airlines will benefit financially from this good deed and the pilot made an extra 15 minutes salary. Now all the other crappy airlines will start looking for opportunities to do a good deed and make money too… for a while anyway… until the novelty wears off. Just as I planned. I call it “paying it forward”.
#2
Get over it dipshiat
#2 is apparently a “Me first” kind of jerk. He’s not the kind of person I’d ever trust because of that attitude.
I didn’t come here, and I aint leavin
“Yet, despite arriving at Los Angeles International Airport two hours before his flight was due to depart, lengthy check-in lines meant he faced a race against time to board on schedule.”
So, thanks to incompetent staff at the check-in lines and gestapo TSA, this guy, and 1000s of others, were late getting to their planes. So one guy has a good news story. The other 1000 are shit-outa-luck.
I think that is a great story, a great airline and shows that people have compassion, something that seems to be lacking from the Grand Theft Auto generation.
Next we will hear they filled his seat so they bumped him up to first class.
It’s great to read good news stories once in awhile, rather than the usual stories of corruption, shootings, rape, etc.
One of the reasons why I love the Southwest Airlines culture! Can you see this happening on United, American or Delta? Neither can I!
Bravo Southwest.
Apparently the ground staff were listening.
Do SW still do those joke announcements?
I enjoyed the “we would like to be the first to welcome you to Hawaii – unfortunately this is Minneapolis St-Pauls” or “the flight is full, please take the first available seat – the people at the back are no better looking, we’ve checked!”
I stopped flying UA because I couldn’t stand the “flying the friendly skies” tag they had to put at the end of every sentence.
Somebody did something good? Yah!
#2 — Hey, douchebag: Are you serious or just kidding around? Something finally goes right, and you think the pilot should be brought up on charges?
What planet are you from?
Now if they would so kind as to care enough to turn on the air conditioner while waiting an hour to take off on a hot summer day on the tarmac.
I haven’t flown with them since….
I like companies that make an explicit effort not to suck. Southwest, Amazon, Google, Nordstrom, and Zappos come to mind.
#2 and #26- Stop playing with yourself.
The pilot was a another lefty loon progressive.
Holding up a plane for one person while everyone else was made late because this one guy couldn’t make it on time!
That’s what the government will do. Hold up the planes.
Ain’t you glad you don’t have to live in the skin of those trying, but failing, to find fault with this story ?