Another wonderful story about CAL

SurferLucas

Southern Gentleman
Saw this on another website and thought it could use being posted here in light of the other CAL post.

This got my blood BOILING...I can certainly say that everytime I've jumpseated, be on Delta, AirTran, United, Northwest, Frontier, USAirways...the airline employees have gone above and beyond for our Armed Forces.

Here it is, for all to read:
On April 13, 2009 I was the Captain on Air Micronesia Flt. 961, Gum - Tyo. When I reported to the gate for check in, an agent working the flight advised me that there was a wounded Marine traveling with his Physician and Division commander. I walked over to introduce myself to a Dr Wilkerson and ask him what I could do to help the Marines condition with respect to the flight to Tokyo. He advised me that he had a serious brain injury and was going to TYO for brain surgery and was in a tremendous amount of pain. I then asked the agent if there were any First class seats avliable and she responded that there were seven open seats. I then asked for just two seats but if she would not mind three would be better. She then immediately gave me three seats beside each other in row three. I then boarded the plane and told the lead flight attendant what the situation was and asked for her assistance. She and all the other Flight Attendants were more that happy to lend assistance. They immediately started gathering more pillows and blankets to aide in the Marines comfort.

I then returned to the podium and asked that he be boarded first as he was unable to walk unassisted. By that time a red coat agent had showed up and started giving me a hard time by telling me that I did not have the authority to take such action and that it was not my call to make. Taking action to help a wounded Marine is a rare opportunity and for me, and quite an honor in light of the sacrifices they make for us. I then politely informed her that I did have the authority and I was making the call to take this action. I felt that the situation pretty much explained itself and that no further discussion was needed, yet she was adamant about blocking this gesture of kindness to a wounded member of our Military. I then informed everyone that he was to be boarded first since he was unable to walk unassisted. Again this red coat strongly objected to this action.

She informed me that he was to board according to his row number with the rest of the passengers and only after he was seated and the door to the aircraft closed would he be able to move up to First Class. For some reason her objections to me taking this action went away. So her next objection was to his boarding early and not first taking his originally assigned seat in coach. I asked her to take a good look at this wounded Marine as his pain was obvious by his moaning and his face wincing in pain and that he was unable to walk unassisted. I informed her that I was not going to treat him in such a callous and unfeeling manner, and that he diserved more consideration from us. Yet she still insisted on boarding him by his originally assigned seat number in coach. She then informed me that they did not diserve to sit up there as they had not paid for the seats. After confirming that her problem was with the money issue, the third one in this episode, I gave her my credit card and told her that if money was now her issue then buy them three first class tickets on me. She then took my credit card and left to go make the charges. This, by the way is illegal according to TSA regulations, a fact that she was oblivious to. She failed this test. I then boarded the three soldiers to their seats in first.

After this I decided to call the SOCC and talk to the Ops. Director. "name omitted" was on duty and after hearing this story he pretty much was speechless but said that I was well within my rights to take the action I did and that I should get my credit card back. When I returned to the aircraft she was in first class talking on the radio in a very loud manner. She was so loud that "name omitted" the first officer on the flight heard her from the cockpit and started to call security to have her removed. I told her that this was not going to happen in the aircraft and we needed to go to the jetway. She did leave the aircraft with me, and finally gave me my credit card back telling me that she was unable to make the charges. I then informed her of my conversation with the Ops. Director and what his opinion of the situation was. She then informed me that her problem was me requesting that the PNR be changed to reflect the seating change. Yet another lie, the PNR was NEVER part of any discussion with her or any one else and certainly of no concern to me at any time.

It is obvious that this red coat changed her story more times than I care to remember. It is painfully clear that she has made false accusations against me to cover up her severe lack of good judgment. "name omitted", the F/O, was a witness to this nonsense and verified that at no time did I ever loose my temper, behave inappropriately, or use any foul language. To do so would have been a severe detriment to accomplishing my goal of taking care of a severely wounded Marine.

Yet on the morning of the 15th of April, the IAH 757 Chief Pilot called me just a couple of minutes after walking into my house and used a very aggressive, demeaning and condescending tone of voice to inform me that he had a pile of emails from Guam accusing me of refusing to show my I.D. when asked and upgrading passengers to First Class and that he was taking section 19 actions against me for my behavior in Guam. At no time did he ever ask me any questions about the accusations against me or give me a chance to defend myself against these false charges. Nor did he ever provide me with any details of what was said by anyone. He just immediately initiated this legal action against me without hearing my side of the story.

I find his behavior despicable and contrary to any kind of a healthy working environment. A fact that is obviously lost to him is that there are TWO sides to every story but as evidenced by his handling of this incident only accusations and falsehoods carry any kind of weight with him. His behavior can only be described as dysfunctional at best. I would have been more than happy to answer any and all of his questions and lay to rest any and all accusations that were made against me because I was in the right and know beyond any doubt that every thing I did was above reproach and no one has accused me of behaving inappropriately.

I must add that this whole incident of trying to do something good for another human being, much less an wounded member of our military forces and as a consequence facing false accusations and severe disciplinary actions against me has unfortunately led me to the conclusion that I can no longer safely make any kind gestures to anyone for fear of reprisals by someone that has an ax to grind against a Captain. It saddens me that Continental has fostered a working environment in which employees are encouraged to write someone up which was verified to me by the assistant Chief who once said to me "you should see some of the **** that comes across my desk" in a conversation concerning another matter. It seems to be that by the way he describes the write ups he has come across his desk it would seem that the appropriate action to take in ALL of these cases is to talk to all the parties involved to get "the rest of the story". That, in this case, was never done before legal action was taken against me for upgrading a wounded Marine to First Class.
 
Just when I think I've heard it all.....
If I were the good Captain, I'd write a letter to Larry Kellner himself.

What a big stinkin' pile of BS....
 
With the amount of NEGATIVE press CAL has been getting lately in the media, you'd think they'd try not to do something this STUPID. I've been keeping up with the story on the other forum. According to the pilot who posted the story (knows the IAH 767 Captain in the story personally), he says the Captain has not been fired, but faces a termination hearing for upgrading the Marine.

Thankfully a few of the other pilots reading the story have passed it on to Bill O'Reily, Sean Hannity, Greta and Glen...reguardless if you agree with their political views or not, they all do a great job of standing up for our proud men and women in the Armed Forces.
 
With the amount of NEGATIVE press CAL has been getting lately in the media, you'd think they'd try not to do something this STUPID. I've been keeping up with the story on the other forum. According to the pilot who posted the story (knows the IAH 767 Captain in the story personally), he says the Captain has not been fired, but faces a termination hearing for upgrading the Marine.

Thankfully a few of the other pilots reading the story have passed it on to Bill O'Reily, Sean Hannity, Greta and Glen...reguardless if you agree with their political views or not, they all do a great job of standing up for our proud men and women in the Armed Forces.

GOOD for them.....when all else fails, embarrass the company! Again, I'd bet Larry wouldn't be too happy with any negative press.
Some of the redjackets are jackasses. I was a gate agent for CO at EWR for a verrry short time and the shenanigans that went on were mind-boggling. I really had no idea how some people held those positions. :whatever:
 
During my days at Horizon, if we had Uniformed Armed Forces personel onboard, I'd make a point to find out commanding officer's name, the branch, division and primary job so that I could make a PA and ask the other passengers to join in a round of applause for them.

One of the most moving experiences I've ever had was getting into ATL early in the morning off a redeye, walking though the Atrium in the main terminal as the USO was leading out a group of soldiers returning from overseas. Everyone stood up, stopped what they were doing...started to clap and chanting "USA"...to be perfectly honest, I was moved to tears...it made me very proud to be an American.
 
During my days at Horizon, if we had Uniformed Armed Forces personel onboard, I'd make a point to find out commanding officer's name, the branch, division and primary job so that I could make a PA and ask the other passengers to join in a round of applause for them.

One of the most moving experiences I've ever had was getting into ATL early in the morning off a redeye, walking though the Atrium in the main terminal as the USO was leading out a group of soldiers returning from overseas. Everyone stood up, stopped what they were doing...started to clap and chanting "USA"...to be perfectly honest, I was moved to tears...it made me very proud to be an American.

I've been there. When I came home from Iraq in 2005 on R&R, I came through DFW.

Turns out, the USO organizes receptions with volunteers.. so all soldiers getting off charters from overseas are greeted by a cheering crowd.

I have to admit... it's effective.

On the way back, I ran into my Lieutenant and we had a bite at Chili's. Somebody paid for our meals... anonymously.

It's stuff like this that makes me feel a little better about the state of America these days. We have our differences.. but we still look after our own.
 
Two things:

1. What's a red coat?

2. In his condition, what the hell was the government doing having this guy fly commercial to Japan? He should've been on a medevac plane, not adhering to some pax airline schedule....part and parcel from the crap they had to deal with in this story.
 
Red Coat is a Customer Service Rep who's called to handle disputes related to boarding, etc.
 
Two things:

1. What's a red coat?

2. In his condition, what the hell was the government doing having this guy fly commercial to Japan? He should've been on a medevac plane, not adhering to some pax airline schedule....part and parcel from the crap they had to deal with in this story.

I have read some other post on the other forum, in which some pilot's were asking the same second question. One of the CAL Pilot's answered that Air Mike is the "air medvac" for Guam...and that it was more than likely a timing issue, like the flight was departing at "the right time" for transport.

I personally have no idea myself, but I'd certainly love to find out just to further educate myself.
 
It would be great if they could put an "Evac" in every place a jarhead might get hurt, but it's not the case.

As to the substance of the story, I'm dumbfounded. She's looking right at this Marine in obvious, tremendous pain, and she's standing on her Authori-tay? What an unfathomable jerk. Send her back to McDonalds so she can give me cold greasy fries or a lukewarm bigmac. That's her paygrade, and where she belongs.

I find the "thanks for your service" boilerplate to be embarrassing and even a little bit condescending (no offense, it's still a nice gesture), but if I can make life a little easier on some kid who's done some bleeding for me, I'll do it most ricky-tick, and I fail to understand those who won't. I hope this Captain wipes the floor with the jerkwad ACP, too. Bring on the admittedly saccharine and overwrought outrage from Rush, O'Reilley, and Hannity. In this case, it's been earned.
 
It would be great if they could put an "Evac" in every place a jarhead might get hurt, but it's not the case.

.

My point was, if he's stable enough to be dragged onto an airliner, then he's likely stable enough for them to send a medical plane from Japan to come get him, if not re-task a transport already on Guam. Medevac being in the sense of a dedicated med bird, not necessarily emergency. All better than putting him on a pax airliner with the resident B.S. like this as well as the overall hassle.
 
The problem is the Red Coat and the gate agent would be the ones called to the carpet when someone in Houston sees that the PNR was updated to show 3 coach passengers sitting in First class yet no additional fare charged.
 
The Red Coat and Customer Service Agent should have more backbone.

I'm sorry, but when you put yourself in front of someone who is VOLUNTEERING their life so that you have the freedoms you enjoy as an American, you have no backbone.
 
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