Comments on: Plane Held For a Man Visiting His Dying Mom

By: mamma lou

mamma lou — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:57:40 +0000

I think this is very cool, but what is that saying? Procrastination on your part is not an emergency on my part. I’m sure they knew the mom was dying soon. Why not go out a day or two ahead of time and spend a few days with mom instead of a few seconds and barely get there in time? I’m sure the guy had a life, etc etc but if he could drop everything at the last second and jump on a plane, I think he could have arranged a few days off too.

By: anchor no 2

anchor no 2 — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 23:29:41 +0000

In these difficult times, when airfares are high, the price of fuel is still high and there are few comfortable seats to be had on most airlines…. and also stories of ungrateful, drunken and rude passengers abound — I think a little PR like this goes a long way to try to buck-up the ticket-buying public. This kind of thing happens one in a lifetime and I’m sure United is playing it for all it’s worth. I suspect, they’re the ones who told the media.

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 22:14:43 +0000

Good job, United!

By: AAMECH

AAMECH — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 02:14:45 +0000

@E-WENCH:I think you need to understand something about aircraft maintenance and work rules. If the airline has maintenance at an airport and a mechanic is called in when he is normally off duty he more than likely would get a minimum of amount of hours paid no matter how many hours he spent fixing an airplane. At AA it is 4 hours. So there is no need to stretch a job out. If there is contract maintenance or airline maintenance on duty, the mechanic is paid by the hour and would probably rather be back in the office waiting on the next call out. Again, no reason to stretch anything out. Bird strikes are very serious and the entire aircraft must be inspected, including the engines. The mechanic must then release the aircraft for service and sign his name to the airworthiness. I love it when passengers complain about aircraft maintenance delays as if the alternative, ie inflight incidents, are better. I think finding the problem on the ground is a better idea.
Agreed that United did what airlines do every day for other passengers. Kudos to them for making it public and getting some brownie points for it.

By: ZZbar

ZZbar — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:51:43 +0000

I think all airlines stink today compared to back in the 80s, but this one I have to say “Thumbs-Up” to United Airlines…

By: Anne Martin

Anne Martin — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:24:38 +0000

Finally, positive news involving an airline. Actually, it’s just nice to read positive news of any kind. Good job United! Good job Ms. Brown—well written, nice story.

By: KellyG

KellyG — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:52:13 +0000

Nice job by the United employees! Glad to see some airlines still understand customer service.

By: michelle

michelle — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:38:49 +0000

RE: DAVEM – I’m with you there! I was flying from MKE to SLC with a connecting flight in DEN in June of last year. My flight out of MKE was delayed about 3 hours because upon landing, the plane hit a bird. (Apparently they mechanics get up to 2 hours to come once called in. The mechanic that looked at my plane took advantage of that 2 hours.) Anyway, I missed my connecting flight and was stuck in the Denver airport from 7 pm until the next avail flight out which was 3 pm the NEXT day. That was flying with Frontier Airlines. Let me say, at the time, I was 22 and only had $10 on me. Worst experience ever. I know better next time to prepare in advance if something like that were to happen again. $10 was barely enough money for me to get breakfast at the airport Mcdonalds. They never accommodated me with a free hotel room for the night, I tried to sleep on the nasty airport floor, but they decided to play this horrible elevator music all throughout the night. Airports are not very accommodating (In my experience).

By: e-wench

e-wench — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:24:50 +0000

You’re not going to harsh my mellow, MWC. This is a great story. Well done United.

By: davem

davem — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:14:39 +0000

Pretty standard for airlines to hold the last flight of the day for connecting passengers.——————Which airlines are those ? That’s not been my experience anyway .