A Couple of Feel Good Airline Stories? Yes It’s True!

We’ve all heard more than enough bad news stories coming out of the airline industry of late, and not a lot of good stories. But that’s not to say they don’t happen, just that not a lot of people are sharing them.

But following a recent barrage of stories about poor airline service, we got news of two feel good stories from two different airlines, which can hopefully help to restore some faith in the embattled airline industry.

The first involved Air Canada and a group of travellers on a New York to Toronto flight that had been subject to lengthy delays. Among those on the flight were several Orthodox Jews who were originally scheduled to arrive in Toronto well ahead of Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, when travel by plane or vehicle is strictly forbidden. As the flight became more and more delayed, the group grew increasingly concerned that they might not arrive in Toronto before sundown, the onset of the Sabbath, which would leave them stranded at the airport for almost 25 hours, until the Sabbath had ended.

In speaking with Air Canada personnel, they were assured that the airline would do everything in their power to get them to their destination before the Sabbath started and once the flight delay was lifted, the flight was given priority status, ensuring a quick takeoff.

While in air, Air Canada arranged for special priority to access its gate, and upon arriving, flight attendants asked those on board to allow Jewish passengers to deplane first so that they would be able to reach their destinations without having to compromise on their religious principles.

"We are very familiar with the needs of our diverse clientele who we have been serving for many years, and are glad that our crew's efforts were recognized by our customers," said Lisa M. Pierce, senior director of USA sales and market development.

"So much noise has been made about the few bad apples in the airline industry, but those stories are not representative of what takes place on thousands of flights each and every day all across the globe," said Eli Ostreicher, CEO of wholesaler Regal Wings. "In this case, however, Air Canada's actions were truly exemplary and Air Canada and its employees continue to prove themselves as paragon of excellence in the travel industry."

In another feel-good moment, Captain John Charles Ritchie, a Southwest Airlines pilot for 22+ years, surprised a passenger on a Southwest flight from Denver to Pittsburgh that he was piloting Saturday.

Over that 22+ year period, Ritchie has been tracking the number of passengers he’s flown and on Saturday’s flight, he carried his one millionth passenger.

“Today is a special day,” said Richie, a former Air Force pilot. “Ever since I started with Southwest, I’ve kept track of the passengers I’ve flown, and today I’m flying my one millionth passenger.”

Now it might have been easy enough for Capt. Ritchie to just say thank you via that announcement from the cockpit, but he decided to take it a few steps further.

“I did a little bit of snooping, and I found out how much you paid for your ticket.” and he strolled through the cabin and presented the passenger, Miriam Krieger, with a bottle of Champagne,  an autographed copy of her boarding card, and an envelope of cash equaling the cost of her ticket.

We've seen evidence of the good in the airline industry over the years, from a United Captain radioing the Captain of a passenger's connecting flight (who subsequently delayed his departure) so that the passenger could make the connection and arrive in time to say his final goodbyes to his ailing mother, to a WestJet pilot having pizza delivered to some stranded Air Canada passengers.

Can the airlines do a better job of dealing with customer situations? Certainly. There's always room for improvement. But at the same time, perhaps it might behoove us, the travelling public, to shift from focusing on the negative to highlighting more of the positive.

So here’s hoping that this is just the start to the sharing of more feel-good moments in air travel that we know many airline employees provide every day.

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