Change in Perspective

Some of us dissed United for our treatment on the way to the Summit; I want to report how much better it was on the way back.

First, when I checked in at the counter in Albany instead of a surly “your flight’s been canceled, maybe we can get you on another airline, maybe we can’t, abandon all hope …
The guy in Albany was pleasant, hopeful and helpful. He put me on the earlier flight out that was still at the gate and due to pull-out soon.

I rush to the gate, hand another United guy my ticket and he says, “you have at least 15 minutes before we leave the gate and then you will probably sit on the runway for a while, because the weather in Chicago was things backed up. There’s no food on the plane, so if you want something you have time to go grab it.” One of the most thoughtful gatekeepers I’ve run across in a while.

We were on the ground for a while (same flight as Marti & Jordon) and this weather problem was no more the pilot’s fault than the fog on the way up. However, this pilot apologized for the delay at least twice and when we took off he opened the bar as a way of saying sorry again. It made me feel like he cared. What a difference.

As a footnote, the regional jet from Chicago to West Virginia (run by Sky West for United) had an all woman flight crew. Although this is not the only time a plane I was on was flown by a woman, it has not been many times and this plane had a woman pilot, co-pilot and attendant. So Marti and Tom are right, women have all the money and jobs now.

Just as I was wondering what all that multi-tasking in the cockpit might look like, we were all asked to get up and move behind row 8 to help with weight distribution or something. So we were all working together with the captain to get the plane off the ground and forming a nice team bond. I won’t even tell you how different the magazine ads read to me after Marti and David’s presentations.