Posted on 08/04/2023 5:22:34 AM PDT by Red Badger
When a video of an American Airlines pilot scolding his passengers during a pre-flight announcement went viral, some people deemed it patronizing.
Others, including a Harvard University expert, are hailing the pilot’s speech as an example of strong leadership — at a time when passengers desperately need it.
“I say bravo to the American Airlines pilot. He has every right to do that. He’s the captain of the flight, and he’s in charge of what happens,” Bill George, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School and author of “True North: Emerging Leader Edition,” tells CNBC Make It. “If something goes wrong, he has the obligation to go back to the nearest airport and land ... and no passenger likes that.”
In the video, which started circulating last week, the pilot set some ground rules for his passengers — including what they should expect from their flight attendants, and how they should treat each other during the journey.
“Remember, the flight attendants are here for your safety. After that they’re here to make your flight more enjoyable,” the pilot said. “They’re going to take care of you guys but you will listen to what they have to say because they represent my will in the cabin, and my will is what matters.”
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The pilot added: “Be nice to each other. Be respectful to each other. I shouldn’t have to say that ... But I have to say it every single flight, because people don’t. And they’re selfish and rude, and we won’t have it.”
He told passengers to store their bags properly, avoid leaning or falling asleep on other people, and use headphones instead of playing audio out loud on speakers.
Lastly, the pilot acknowledged the plight of the people in middle seats: “Middle seaters, I know it stinks to be in the middle ... You own both armrests. That is my gift to you. Welcome on board our flight.”
A great example of leadership, but not a one-size-fits-all strategy
The speech — “a little bit of fatherhood,” as the pilot deemed it — serves as a counterpoint to a bevy of recent videos depicting outbursts aboard aircrafts. Airlines have seen a significant uptick in unruly passenger reports: nearly 2,500 last year and 6,000 in 2021, compared to roughly 1,200 in 2019 and less than 1,000 in years prior, according to Federal Aviation Administration data.
The FAA has referred more than 250 of those cases to the Federal Bureau of Investigations since 2021, a move reserved for particularly violent incidents, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.
Given that backdrop, George applauds the pilot, noting that commercial airline captains “have the right to do these things.”
It’s not a one-size-fits-all leadership approach, he adds: “In the office, it’s more nuanced. You’re not dealing with a situation that might put people in physical harm, or could be potentially dangerous.”
CEOs and bosses have “the right to set some standards of behavior,” but scolding lectures in that kind of setting typically only make employees feel undervalued and underappreciated, George says. That could contribute to staffers “quiet quitting” their jobs — or even actually quitting.
Instead, if you’re struggling with a respect-in-the-workplace problem, talk directly with the people involved to get their perspectives and craft a more personalized, empathic solution.
“Expressing genuine empathy for someone’s circumstance and being able to walk in their shoes is an essential quality of all leaders,” George said in a 2015 interview with psychologist Daniel Goleman. “It’s the key element.”
I’d rather ride in a cattle trailer than an airliner. In a cattle trailer the fellow travellers have better manners and are better behaved.
And the company moving the cattle has more respect for their passengers than any airline.
It may seem unnecessary for the captain to have to say all that. But passengers’ manners in public have been going down hill for decades. It is a selfish entitled mindset on display.
A Harvard University expert? No - Bill George, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, is a pimp hustling his book.
As a flight attendant who has been violently assaulted by a passenger, cornered in the galley by an angry man who was about to explode, elbowed by BOTH men on each side of me when deadheading on a flight and in a middle seat so they could each have both armrests and having been cursed out, had things thrown at me and called the worst things anyone could call a woman, this is a good start.
The airlines not permanently banning people for violent behavior is pathetic. There should be a databank of people who have passed a certain level of behavior with each level having a specific punishment up to permanent banning.
Piedmont Airlines has entered the chat...
Agree with you. Anyone who's flown lately knows exactly how badly people are behaving in the air these days. AA, United and others are no exceptions.
Then he's obviously not addressing you, but rather that jerk sitting next to you...
Getting to that point, too. I still always get a good window seat (how people can sit in a window seat, close the shade, and stare at an electronic screen completely escapes me...), but the dress and conduct of many (most?) passengers is disconcerting. That and of course submitting to TSA groping. A far, far cry from when my mother would drop me off at the Burbank airport (as in pull up in front on the curb and let me out) when I was nine and send me on my way. Long international flights last month... I might be done.
I don’t want to hear it. The guy next to me knows the consequences. The pilot was being an ass. Eff him.
Last month I flew Delta, Alaska and United on a business trip.
Boston to SLC to Boise on Delta was a great experience.
Boise to Spokane on Alaska was an old plane but left on time and arrived early.
United to Denver to Boston was the worst experience of all.
Delta was a new AirBus. Video monitors in the back of all seats. Free entertainment. Free head phones they hand out when you get on the plane. Just an overall much better experience.
SO, IMHO always fly Delta if you have the choice.
Are you the guy on the end seat taking both arm rests?
I thought that every Delta flight had to go through Atlanta. Portland to Seattle via Atlanta, and so forth.
I haven't flown in a long time, but I'd agree that United is the worst.
Flew with them once and it was pleasant. But, I wanted to miles to use where they did not go, so I am off to Paris next month.
Diversity demographics have turned flying in to a nightmare. It is a horrible experience.
It’s always instructive to watch the entitled, narcisstic old goats on FR attack someone rightfully asserting authority.
Keep in mind they bought Northwest Airlines a few years back. So, they also use Minneapolis and Detroit as hubs.
Based on my experience I would recommend going through SLC vs Denver at least in the summer. My flight back from DEN to BOS was delayed because of afternoon thunderstorms(wind shear). Apparently, this is a common occurrence in the summer at the Denver airport as the storms roll in off the front range.
Interesting to know. Told you I hadn’t flown in a long time.
meh, i agree with him but nobody wants a lecture.
The original Piedmont Airlines, before it was taken over by Allegheny Air (which had become US Air)... was a well run efficient airline. Piedmont Airlines of today is run out of Salisbury, MD and is a commuter flight division of American Airlines.
In any case, the discount lines like Spirit, JetBlue etc. has turned commercial aviation into a zoo of people who should stay on commercial busses where they belong. It has also been exacerbated by giving booze to people already high before they become pressurized to 5000 ft. which pushes the booze in the blood well into the brain tissue (a medical fact overlooked by only the marketers of these party air- cars).
The captain here is defining his power- to remind idiots that they endanger other passengers and there is little recourse at 30K feet.
He was not talking to you unless of course you are the "A" hole that he was referring to.
Your other comment about stewardesses lacks class and regard for others. There are many people that I personally do not like but have to interact with, however they just might be the one who saves your life. Just want to understand, you have a problem with a gay man saving your life?
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