It’s uncommon that pilots make an impression on passengers, since they don’t work together a lot with these on the opposite aspect of the cockpit door. Heck, the absence of something eventful or memorable often means pilots did a great job. Nonetheless, yesterday I had an American Airways captain who was memorable on a few ranges…
An superior Miami-based American Airways captain
Yesterday morning I flew from Boston (BOS) to Miami (MIA) on American Airways, on an Airbus A321neo (it was really one of many former Alaska Airways jets).
Upon boarding, the (feminine) captain was standing on the door to greet every passenger with an enormous smile, which was after all good to see, since I discover that to be fairly uncommon these days.
I used to be in Most important Cabin Further on this flight, however as boarding completed up, I noticed her standing on the entrance of the primary class cabin, to offer passengers seated there a particular welcome onboard, and thank them for his or her enterprise. It has been years since I’ve seen an American captain do one thing like that, so I believed that was a very nice contact.
She then made her welcome onboard announcement for the whole cabin, which was as soon as once more tremendous pleasant, and in addition form of hilarious. “We’re Miami primarily based and that is our final phase of the journey, so we’re gonna fly it like we stole it, and hope to get you there a couple of minutes early.”
However right here’s probably the most attention-grabbing element — she defined that her co-pilot was really her husband. At first I puzzled if I misunderstood that, however certain sufficient, when the flight attendants introduced the identify of the crew, the captain and first officer had the identical final identify.
Suffice it to say that this captain left an impression, not just for her friendliness, however for her first officer additionally being her husband. I might’ve cherished to ask her some questions, however didn’t have the possibility, as they darted off the aircraft after touchdown (I can’t blame them!). As they exited the aircraft, the captain mentioned to the lead flight attendant “thanks for taking such nice care of us, hope to fly with you once more quickly.” As you possibly can inform, she was a category act throughout.
That should be an attention-grabbing cockpit dynamic
I can’t assist however be curious concerning the logistics of scheduling for this couple, and in addition what the dynamics within the cockpit are like.
American Airways has over 15,000 pilots, so for many pilots, it’s normal to be paired with totally different colleagues on each journey, and perhaps by no means fly with them once more (particularly as pilots change plane and positions over time).
Pilots can bid on their schedules, so I’m wondering if I simply ended up on one of many few journeys the place they’re paired collectively, or in the event that they make a degree of all the time flying collectively when attainable. I suppose it might be that they’re each excessive seniority A320-family pilots (the spouse as captain, and husband as first officer), and subsequently they often get the schedules that they bid on. They could sacrifice a bit of cash to have the ability to work collectively.
For a lot of pilots, one of many hardest elements of the job is consistently being away from residence, and away out of your partner. So it’s a very totally different sport when you possibly can as a substitute always journey along with your partner.
On the identical time, I can’t assist however be curious concerning the dynamics within the cockpit when a pair is flying collectively. Usually working along with your partner isn’t an excellent concept by way of preserving a relationship, although I think about they’ve it discovered.
From time to time an airline will spotlight some cool pilot pairings, like a mum or dad flying as captain whereas their baby is a primary officer, or siblings flying collectively. Nonetheless, I’ve by no means knowingly flown with a husband and spouse duo, so I believed that was fairly cool.
Backside line
I had an superior American Airways captain yesterday, who greeted every passenger upon boarding, gave the primary class cabin a particular welcome aboard, and had a usually pleasant and fascinating welcome aboard announcement. The best half, although, was that her husband was the primary officer on the flight.
It’s not every single day you see that, so I can’t assist however share, and surprise if anybody has skilled one thing related.
Has anybody flown with this American Airways husband & spouse duo earlier than? Or are there a number of on the market?
