Now this IS the way to run an airline

Good day all. We’ve all seen the horror stories of people stuck on planes for hours with no food, water or a way off. We’ve had instances of near mutinies as passengers lose their tempers after sitting on a runway for 10 hours.

Well, once in a while, you see something that just warms the hearts of airline marketing departments everywhere. In this case, a Delta Airlines plane was stuck on the runway for 3 hours. The passengers were starting to get a bit antsy as you might expect when a nice surprise happened. Here’s some of the story from Fox News:

A Delta employee ordered 60 pizzas for delayed passengers on an Atlanta-bound flight from Tennessee after the plane was stranded on the tarmac for three hours on Monday. Michele Carson-Vaughn, Delta Director of Field Services for the Southeast, says the airline’s Knoxville station manager who has not been named was behind the idea, reports the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Now the DOT ((Department of Transportation)) has rules regarding the treatment of passengers who are stuck on a plane. They have to provide food and water after two hours and if they’re stuck for three hours, they have to return to the gate and let them off. These rules came into being after several airlines held on the runways had passengers on board for 12 or more hours. Well, it looks like someone working for that airline deserves a bonus.

Delta reportedly worked with TSA to clear the delivery through security and the pizzas were delivered to the plane by a police car that had its lights flashing, reports the Chronicle.

One passenger told NBC she and her fellow passengers were pretty excited to see the Pizza Hut pizza.

“Everyone appeared happy after the pizza feed — “but they just wouldn’t serve us beer,” said Vazmina.”And yes we asked a bunch of times.”

What? No beer? What good is pizza without beer? Ok, I’m being a bit silly here. The last thing you want are a bunch of drunks living the old joke. Old joke you ask? Yes, this old joke.

A drunk staggers into a cab and tells the driver to take him home. After a few minutes the drunk leans forward and asks the driver:

“Hey! You got room up there for a case of beer and a couple of pizzas?”

The driver replies:

“Sure bud, no problem.”

At this point the drunk leans over the seat and upchucks all over the passenger seat in the cab. Yeah, I can see why the flight attendants, (what used to be called in the pre-politically correct days stewardesses), wouldn’t serve any beer. Here are a few other details from Today.com:

Flight attendants passed out the pizza to the passengers temporarily turning them into “Pizza Hut delivery people,” said passenger Jen Vazmina. There was enough for everyone on the flight, with the choices of cheese, pepperoni or sausage.

There is a picture of the flight attendants handing out slices from the Pizza Hut boxes.

“Of course we were all upset, but everyone was pretty accepting,” Vazmina said of the delay. “The pilot kept the mood light and the flight attendants busted their butts to keep us hydrated.”

But, still no beer. As I mentioned earlier, after three hours, DOT regs require passengers be allowed to leave the plane.

Durrant confirmed passengers were provided with “an egress opportunity.” The captain told passengers that those who were talking about leaving the plane and driving from the Knoxville airport could do so, said Vazmina, “but no one left or for that matter cared anymore.”

DOT rules do not require airlines to deliver pizzas, but, “it’s a nice thing we can do for our customers,” said Durrant. “And it’s something we’ve been doing in these situations.”

Delta has been one of the airlines that’s been raked over the coals in the past for really botching customer relations. It is nice to see them doing something right. Let’s just hope they gave the delivery guy more than a $10 tip for his efforts.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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