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Flight Crew Ignores Airline Orders. In a discussion elsewhere, people mentioned how crew shortages are severely affecting operations, especially at ATL.
I wanted to share what happened last night. I was flying from Asia and had already faced a day-long delay before arriving in ATL. I expected ATL to be a mess, and it was.
Most flights were delayed or canceled, but my 10 pm flight still looked promising when I landed in ATL at 3 pm, so I decided to hang around.
As anticipated, my flight was delayed to 11 pm by around 9:30. By 11:30 pm, the original crew was unavailable. Instead, a new team showed up at the gate. Although the captain and first officer were qualified, the off-duty flight attendants volunteered their time to get the flight moving.
I took a seat by the gate and observed as the crew and attendants spent two hours arguing on the phone with Delta’s scheduling. One crew member’s time expired, another stepped in and said, “We’ll fly this plane,” and the volunteer attendants agreed to staff it.
After another hour of discussions with Delta (by now it was about 2 am), things finally seemed resolved, and the crew went to prepare the plane.
Just as we were about to start boarding, Delta called to say that one of the flight attendants wasn’t in uniform. The attendant without a uniform spent 15 minutes looking for one, then ran back to the gate to call Delta and argue her case.
The other attendants pitched in, but the gate agent refused to open the jet bridge door, citing Delta’s claim that the crew wasn’t properly registered due to this “technicality.”
Then, a resourceful flight attendant made a call on her cell phone and declared, “This is not happening on my watch.” A ramp worker burst through the jet bridge door from the airside and shouted, “If you want to go to XXX, get on the plane now!”
The attendant without a uniform raced down the jet bridge, the gate agent hung up on Delta, and at 3 am, the announcement came: “Ladies and gentlemen, get on the plane now. All rows, all zones, just board the plane.”
We finally took off at 3:30 am, and now I’m home posting this on Reddit.
Big thanks to the Delta crew and gate staff.
I kept the flight details vague because I’m worried they might face repercussions, but all 130 of us on that flight consider you heroes!
Read more: Reddit
Flight Crew Ignores Airline Orders, Departing to Bring Passengers Home
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In a comment on another thread, people were discussing how crew shortages are currently crippling operations, especially in ATL.
I wanted to share my experience from last night. I was flying from Asia and had already been delayed a day before arriving in ATL. I anticipated chaos at ATL, and it lived up to my expectations.
As expected, my flight was delayed to 11 pm by around 9:30. By 11:30 pm, none of the original crew was available. Instead, a new crew showed up at the gate.
I sat at the gate, watching as the crew and flight attendants spent two hours on the phone with Delta scheduling. One crew member’s time ran out, but another stepped in and said, “We’ll fly this plane,” and the volunteer flight attendants agreed to staff the flight.
After another hour of arguing with Delta, around 2 am, they seemed to get things sorted, and the crew went to prepare the plane.
The flight attendant who was missing a uniform spent 15 minutes trying to find one, then ran back to the gate to call Delta and plead her case. The other flight attendants helped, but the gate agent said the jet bridge door wouldn’t open because Delta claimed the crew wasn’t properly registered due to this “technicality.”
Then, a heroic flight attendant made a call on her cell phone and said, “This is not going to happen on my watch.” A ramp worker burst through the jet bridge door from the air side and shouted, “If you want to go to XXX, get on the plane now!”
The non-uniformed flight attendant dashed down the jet bridge, the gate agent hung up on Delta, and at 3am, the announcement came: “Ladies and gentlemen, get on the plane now. All rows, all zones, just get on the plane.”
We took off at 3:30 am, and now I’m home writing this on Reddit.
Thank you to the Delta crew and gate workers. I kept the flight details vague because I’m concerned they might face repercussions, but all 130 of us on that flight consider you heroes!
People online rooted for the “hero” flight attendant and shared similar experiences: Flight Crew Ignores Airline Orders
happened to me yesterday in SLC as well. had an entire crew minus one FA. turns out there’s an FA who is dead heading on the flight to get home. in uniform. volunteers to work the flight. took THREE HOURS of her, the gate agents, other FAs and the captain calling crew scheduling again and again for them to give her the green light.
ridiculous amount of red tape to go through but super grateful for the volunteer FA for taking on the flight and solving a problem.
Glad they were getting y’all out of there. I got back to SLC at 1 am after having to rebook on American since all the Delta flights were canceled. I felt horrible seeing everyone sleeping in the terminal as I was walking my happy ass out to go home.
Had this happen yesterday morning. Captain called said one FA was no show, he had a commuting FA that volunteered to operate but didn’t have a uniform on. Took me 30 mins of calling managers and scheduling before they gave me and the captain the go-ahead with the volunteer out of uniform. Small victories helping people get to where they need to go 🌐🔺️🦅
This reminds me of the Star Trek movie where Kirk and the crew disobey orders, steal the enterprise, and rescue Spock. Pure heroism in the face of bureaucratic idiocy.
