After an emergency landing and crew timeout, a United Airlines pilot turned lemons into lemonade by treating delayed passengers to a pizza pie while they waited to depart again.
United Airlines Captian Treats Distressed Passengers To Pizza After Medical Diversion
A passenger fainted on a San Francisco (SFO) to Houston (IAH) flight, forcing a diversion to Albuquerque, New Mexico (ABQ). Onboard medical gear was used to treat the passenger who fainted and the equipment supply had to be replenished in order to legally take off again. That took time and the crew’s duty time was exceeded.
Thus, passengers thus faced an even longer delay while a new crew was flown in to continue the flight to Bush Intercontinental Airport. Although United offered meal vouchers to each passenger onboard, it was getting late and concessionaires at Albuquerque International Sunport had closed up.
But the captain came to the rescue by calling in 30 pizzas, which were delivered to the gate, much to the delight of the hungry passengers.
View From The Wing did some digging and reported the incident took place on UA2480 on September 13, 2024, traveling from and operated by a Boeing 737 MAX 9.
Many mock the “good leads the way” slogan United currently uses in its marketing campaigns, but these sorts of stories do paint a picture of employees who care, not employees who are just going through the motions. It seems to me that this act of kindness is exactly the kind of loyalty-building measure that we need to see more of if Untied is serious about its claim of eclipsing Delta and rising to #1.
Kudos to the captain for this kind gesture…it’s leadership on display and is the sort of move that is changing hearts and minds about United.
