April 27--Hardly a week goes by without a news story -- usually accompanied by a YouTube video -- going viral about bad behavior on an airline.
We've seen and read about passengers battling over oppressive legroom, wrath directed at parents with unruly children, demands fellow travelers be evicted as possible terrorists for speaking Arabic, a flight attendant allegedly trafficking in narcotics fleeing from authorities and more horror stories than Stephen King could conjure up.
When bad weather causes hundreds of flights to be canceled, long-awaited vacation plans are put in jeopardy, raising the anxiety level for passengers, who often are shown berating airline employees as if they bear responsibility for Mother Nature's temper tantrums.
What we don't see are employees scrambling to set things right, even devising creative schedules to bypass storms when possible to get us to our destinations as soon as possible.
But a recent episode involving the Wartburg College Choir highlights an airline going way beyond the call of duty to set things right when winter weather plays havoc.
The world-renowned choir makes an international tour every third year during the spring and U.S. tours in the other years. This year its U.S. tour had stops in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska. It was scheduled to fly April 16 on United Airlines out of Minneapolis, through its Denver hub and onto San Antonio for two April 17 concerts there.
Unfortunately, a massive snowstorm closed the Denver airport, threatening the San Antonio performances and possibly throwing a monkey wrench into the rest of the tour.
This could have been a story about the 88 choir members lamenting the loss of a highlight of their college careers, because alternative flights to circumvent the storm were unavailable. United has no direct flights to San Antonio.
Instead, it's a tale about heroic airline employees who literally saved the day by going way beyond the call of duty.
The United Airtime blog describes what happened:
"The team at MSP realized they had two extra aircraft on hand and made a call to our Network Operations Center to see if they could arrange to use the spare Airbus A319 to take the group nonstop from MSP to San Antonio -- which is not a typical routing for us. They were able to make it happen."
"The choir members were ecstatic," said Tammi Hautula, a Minneapolis operations representative. "Thanks to the flight and inflight crews and all willing to fly this trip, we saved their spring tour."
The choir serenaded the crew with a special "thank you" song, which flight captain Thomas Osterholm posted on YouTube.
"Never in my entire career (have I) ever seen more appreciative passengers for what United did for them," he said. "It truly gives one a great sense of pride to be a member of such a great team that does such wonderful things for people."
Pilot Tom Cantrell emailed Wartburg, "Your students blew me away with their positive attitude and politeness, several qualities that are lacking in most airports these days. You should be proud of how they represented your college, and whatever secret ingredient you feed them in your cafeteria keep doing it -- they are a credit to your college and faculty."
The choir posted its thanks: "United Airlines very literally saved the start of the choir's tour ... and we are so, so grateful!"
Wartburg professor Bill Withers, a customer service consultant for major corporations, summed up the event in a Facebook post:
"Well played, United. I always applaud airlines when their teams put their heads together around (quality customer service) initiatives like this. 'So, we found them another plane!' Seriously?! Of course; it can be done if organizations focus on service and solutions! ... And yes, you can still 'fly the friendly skies of United!'"
Score one for a feel-good airline video on YouTube with dozens of happy travelers, serenading the flight crew that saved their San Antonio concerts.
Copyright 2016 - Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
