I recently attended the National Speakers Association Annual Conference in Times Square, New York City. The American Airlines flight from Houston Hobby to LaGuardia was close to the flight from heck.

It actually began the night before we left and continued for about 15 hours. Our original flight was to leave Houston Hobby at 9:35 a.m., change planes in Dallas Ft Worth, then off to LaGuardia. The airlines called me at 10:00 the night before to tell us our flight had been cancelled and we were not booked on a 1:30 flight, arriving in New York at 8:10 p.m. We had dinner plans at 8 pm, so that option would not work.

I called the airlines and after hitting button after button, was connected to a live person. When I asked why our flight was cancelled, her response [after checking] was “crew duty times …. The crew needs to have a certain amount of rest time ….”. OK being in the aviation industry I understand that. We finally got booked on a 6 am flight, changing planes in DFW and arriving in LaGuardia at 12:15.

I got about 3 hours sleep … having to get up at 4 am for the 6 am flight. The first leg, to DFW, went without a hitch. The second leg was uneventful, that is until about 30 minutes before we were to land in LaGuardia. At 11:45, the Captain made the first of many announcements [note: these are not the exact words the Captain used … I have paraphrased]:

11:45 am Captain: Well folks, LaGuardia is having weather, so we’ve been put in a holding pattern. Should last about 40 minutes. We have enough fuel. We’ll keep you posted.

11:55 am Captain: Well folks, LaGuardia has been closed because of weather. We’re off to JFK.

12:05 pm Captain: Another change, folks. We are off to Baltimore

12:10 pm Captain: We just got word that a plane landed at JFK from another angle, so we’re going to JFK.

12:20 pm Captain: [after landing] We’ll we’re here at JFK. Not sure if we’ll stay or what we’re doing. They don’t have a gate for us, so please stay in your seats with your seat belt fastened.

12:25 pm Captain: We’re being fueled as we speak. We’ll be leaving shortly headed to LaGuardia.

At this point several passengers went to the front of the plane and pleaded their case to deplane at JFK.

12:30 pm Captain: We’re looking into letting you off here. We have no gate, no agent, TSO needs to get involved. We are looking into it.

12:35 pm Captain: OK folks this is the deal: if you did not check any baggage, you can get off here. We are responsible for you, however if you get off here we are no longer responsible for you. Please stop by and see the gate agent as you leave.

At this point, we decided to get off and catch a cab to Times Square. We were walking towards ground transportation at 12:45 …. A mere 30 minutes after our original landing time.

The Captain was very friendly in his announcements and never talked down to us. He seemed genuinely sincere in wanting us to know what he knew about the situation.

Some people may believe the Captain gave us too much information; I strongly disagree with them. I like being informed, even if there is nothing rational I can do about it.

It wasn’t what the Captain said, it’s what I thought I heard. And I heard caring, concern and strong confidence in his job and responsibilities.

Tags: American Airlines, Captain, communication, Houston Hobby, leadership, listening, Marriott Marquis, National Speakers Association, New York City, Times Square

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 8:07 pm and is filed under Aviation Posts, communication, intention, interpretation, leadership, listening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.