So much for the "Your (Delta) application must be 40 pages!"

Aren't you at my shop? Is it not PM duty to do the cruise PA?

The jetBlue/Virgin merger didn't happen :( so we're not at the same shop.

We don't do cruise PAs. Just the welcome PA from the galley and that is it. Exceptions would be delays, emergencies, diversions, etc. But no kiss em good bye PAs or the like.
 
Yep. As a Gen-Xer caught in the 9/11, age 65, and recession era - I'm jealous of those millennials that get to sail right through their careers with tailwinds. I hope they realize how damn lucky they are.

Oh I have no doubt there is a 20-something year old pilot at Delta beotching about life. Perspective, or lack there of.
 
You'll find me at the podium, hat on, during IROPs.

Of course the internet will give you slack for that, but ask any gate agent or flight attendant, it sounds better and more believable coming from the captain.

The business travelers are already on their devices and don't give a poop, but a good percentage of your customers during the summer time, well, don't know what to do or what their resources are.

At the end of the day, the people that say "here, go fly this $100 million dollar jet we'll give you several hundred dollars per hour to do it" want me to do it, my union says, "L'chaim! Knock yourself out!" so I do it.
 
Of course the internet will give you slack for that, but ask any gate agent or flight attendant, it sounds better and more believable coming from the captain.

The business travelers are already on their devices and don't give a poop, but a good percentage of your customers during the summer time, well, don't know what to do or what their resources are.

At the end of the day, the people that say "here, go fly this $100 million dollar jet we'll give you several hundred dollars per hour to do it" want me to do it, my union says, "L'chaim! Knock yourself out!" so I do it.

The pax love it, absolutely. I have to admit it's not my favorite thing in the world to do, but I know exactly how they feel when there's a lack of communication from the flight crew. It's extremely frustrating, and I have always received positive feedback from the passengers (and gate agents) when I've done it.

I got to do it last night even. The silly season of summer gives lots of opportunities to practice our public speaking, that's for sure!
 
It's a nice thing and it barely takes any extra time or effort. The gate is just gonna tell them "there's a mechanical delay" and everybody groans. Some people want to know what's actually going on, think the airline is just lying, etc - you can make that difference. That's my view. You also can manage expectations better than the gate - we had a 5 hour delay into SFO for an EDCT. The gate agent was telling me ops had only delayed the flight 30 minutes... again, another area where you can properly manage expectations. Don't overthink it. Just do it. These people paid several hundred bucks to get from point A to point B and now they aren't. Be concise, be honest, and you do your airline a great favor.
 
The pax love it, absolutely. I have to admit it's not my favorite thing in the world to do, but I know exactly how they feel when there's a lack of communication from the flight crew. It's extremely frustrating, and I have always received positive feedback from the passengers (and gate agents) when I've done it.

I got to do it last night even. The silly season of summer gives lots of opportunities to practice our public speaking, that's for sure!
I wouldn't have given you positive feedback. I would've made the flight LONG giving you "ish" for doing a podium PA. Maybe that's why you didn't include FOs? ;)
"Hey @GypsyPilot, pax want to know where we are."
"Hey @GypsyPilot, pax want to know what river that is."
"Hey @GypsyPilot, FAs said they're cold, told them that's your job, not mine."
 
Of course the internet will give you slack for that, but ask any gate agent or flight attendant, it sounds better and more believable coming from the captain.

The business travelers are already on their devices and don't give a poop, but a good percentage of your customers during the summer time, well, don't know what to do or what their resources are.

At the end of the day, the people that say "here, go fly this $100 million dollar jet we'll give you several hundred dollars per hour to do it" want me to do it, my union says, "L'chaim! Knock yourself out!" so I do it.
I beg to differ. You said captain. I think it's more believable coming from a PILOT. Most people call me CA even though I have 3 stripes. They wouldn't care if it's me or you giving the announcement. Of course, I would let you do it because, well, CAs give the announcements. ;)
 
I beg to differ. You said captain. I think it's more believable coming from a PILOT. Most people call me CA even though I have 3 stripes. They wouldn't care if it's me or you giving the announcement. Of course, I would let you do it because, well, CAs give the announcements. ;)
Crew Support once did something silly and reflowed a Captain to a slightly earlier departure and delayed ours by two hours while a reserve was summoned; the agent in San Francisco had no details (nor did we, actually, so I relented and phoned Moscow). Dude looked at me like I was from the Moon when I offered to make his delay announcement for him.
 
Of course the internet will give you slack for that, but ask any gate agent or flight attendant, it sounds better and more believable coming from the captain.

The business travelers are already on their devices and don't give a poop, but a good percentage of your customers during the summer time, well, don't know what to do or what their resources are.

At the end of the day, the people that say "here, go fly this $100 million dollar jet we'll give you several hundred dollars per hour to do it" want me to do it, my union says, "L'chaim! Knock yourself out!" so I do it.

I ask the gate agent if they want me to talk to the passengers, as opposed to rushing the gate and grabbing the mic to heroically save the day and explain why we're late.

Sometimes the gate agent has it under control.

Sometimes the gate agent just want more info from me.

Sometimes the gate agent wants me to talk to the passengers.

My job is to be helpful, and sometimes that means staying out of the way so I can help others do their job.

That's leadership.
 
Crew Support once did something silly and reflowed a Captain to a slightly earlier departure and delayed ours by two hours while a reserve was summoned; the agent in San Francisco had no details (nor did we, actually, so I relented and phoned Moscow). Dude looked at me like I was from the Moon when I offered to make his delay announcement for him.


Crew Support?
 
I ask the gate agent if they want me to talk to the passengers, as opposed to rushing the gate and grabbing the mic to heroically save the day and explain why we're late.

Sometimes the gate agent has it under control.

Sometimes the gate agent just want more info from me.

Sometimes the gate agent wants me to talk to the passengers.

My job is to be helpful, and sometimes that means staying out of the way so I can help others do their job.

That's leadership.

Well, durrrrrrrr, Barrister.

I did one in Denver a couple days ago and this is what happened. One agent was down, two late flights, people losing their shizzle because of connections. She really didn't know why we were late because she didn't have that information.

So I offered.

"Ewwwwwwwww mah gerrrrd, could you?" #DenverAccent
 
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