Passengers on United Airlines Flight 416 from Salt Lake City to Denver were in their seats, waiting to taxi to the runway, when their pilot suddenly announced that “an interpersonal confrontation [has] upset me significantly to the point where I’m not focused enough to fly you to Denver.” Apparently, the “interpersonal confrontation” started when the pilot was caught wearing his hat in front of management.
United’s pilots are understandably pissed that management is saving costs by axing 1,600 employees while simultaneously funding a $130 million executive cash bath. As a form of Ghandi-esque protest, the pilot’s union has asked its members to take off their hats in management’s presence—which seems counterintuitive, since we always thought taking your hat off was a sign of respect, not a way to flip a finger to The Man.
Anyway, this poor pilot KEPT HIS HAT ON! He was busted by another flight crew, and was so bent out of shape by the ensuing “interpersonal confrontation” that he decided to cancel his flight—which is much better than flying angry, because you really don’t want your pilot cutting off other planes or tailgating.
United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said in an e-mailed statement that the flight was canceled according to company procedures designed to ensure flight crews are prepared to fly. The airline re-accommodated its customers on other flights and will give them “goodwill gestures,” which may include miles and travel certificates, she said.
Urbanski declined to identify the pilot or provide details of the incident, but she did not dispute the passenger’s account.
“We will conduct a full investigation of the events leading up to the cancellation and take appropriate, necessary action,” she wrote in the e-mail.
David Kelly, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents United pilots, said the union won’t comment on the incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration says it’s up to the airlines to determine when and how pilots can walk away from the cockpit if they feel unfit to fly. “But we’d expect that if the pilots aren’t fit to fly, they would not fly,” said FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette.
And now we know how airline labor negotiations can directly impact customer service.
United flight canceled after upset pilot refuses to fly [USA Today]
(Photo: Getty)
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@CaptZ:
A local Midwestern grocery store chain that I frequent (Meijer) is unionized. Almost everyone at my local store makes minimum wage, which in Ohio is $7/hr.
The only union that has any real power is the UAW. Most other unions are nothing more than paper tigers.
@Eric1285:
If it’s really that easy to make $30/hr why don’t you sign up? You’re apparently literate, educated, and can do unskilled labor. Join your local easy-money establishment and scratch your ass. It’s gotta be easier than the engineering you’re apparently involved in.
@corporateamericabites
you make it sound like being arrogant is a bad thing. I personally want a pilot who is sure of himself flying my plane over some meek accountant type any day, bud.
@stinerman: “The only union that has any real power is the UAW. Most other unions are nothing more than paper tigers.”
I’d have to go ahead and sort of of disagree with that.
The writers union managed to bring network television to its knees not too long ago. The California dock workers are fully capable of shutting down entire societies. They don’t work, Hawaii is starving. There are plenty of unions that have plenty of power to disrupt your life should they choose to do so.
@stinerman: Did you ever stop to consider that $30 an hour might not be enough for someone of my intellectual capacity? That only works out to about $72k a year. Most intelligent people have much higher aspirations. What do you think the opportunities for career advancement are like for someone who’s supposed to be an unskilled laborer?
Come on now, think a little bit before you try to make me look bad. You’re going to have to work a lot harder than that!
The nurses union walked out over here a few years ago…. think they don’t have any power? Who the hell is gonna take care of your sick ass when the nurses walk out? The doctors? HAHAHA! Not likely.
Considering all those control panels and hundreds of tiny things that require attention that can make the difference between a successful flight or a really short air excursion. My vote is for the pilot who isnt distracted.
oh good, a unions suck vs execs suck fight. the winner? people who want printed proof that consumerist is full of pointless bickering.
Just love the engineers whose training is obsolete within 5 years giving other folks crap. Don’t believe me? RTFM. Yes, many engineers have fantasies about their contributions, skills, and importance. Fact is, without unions, many of our benefits would not exist. Government, specifically the current brand, spent decades NOT halting child labor, 60+ hour work weeks, disappearing vacations, mirage-style payrolls, and OSHA hazards.
Worked with an engineer who told me the union was a waste of time. The same union that put his turnip son in 24-hour health care…that I and every other employee paid for. The same union that kept his pay when management told him he was salaried at $32K, no matter how many hours he worked. The same union that protected his job when he asked the union to fight for his pay for hours already worked.
Mr Smug@ss can go work at the $30/hr job. Oh wait, it’s not good enough for him. Let some other person rot in industrial hell. The money is the ony thing that makes it worth doing.
@Mudpuddle: But @Eric1285 is an Engineer! He probably knows how the plane works better than the pilot! Those control panels and tiny things are obviously just there to make the big bad pilots feel smarter about flying planes than other people.
@Eric1285: In the US, the “appropriate training” of most air carrier pilots consists of Air Force training the majority of times. So you’re slandering veterans of the armed forces of the United States of America, who loyally sacrificed a decade or more of their life so that you might bad-mouth them while backwashing into your Big Gulp and gulping down your third box of “cheese” nachos.
Sort of sucks when your irrational union hatred gets in the way of your unquestioned patriotism, huh?
Take off their hats? I thought the standard protest was to remove one’s British Sugar Corporation Gilbert-and-Sullivan Society cuff-links.
@Trai_Dep:
That’s becoming less and less true. There are a LOT of Airline pilots who have no armed service experience.
@Trai_Dep:
Care to backup some of your claims? I don’t know if “most” commercial pilots are former air force veterans.
I never said anything bad about the men and women who serve this country. It seems as if you have managed to selectively read certain parts of my comments and have chosen to intertwine them with your own ramblings. I can’t help you there.
By the way, have you ever taken the armed forces aptitude test? It’s a joke. They may be out there fighting for our country’s interests, but that doesn’t make them intelligent. I have the utmost respect for what they are doing (indeed, I nearly signed up to join the Marine Corp a couple years ago but put it on hold to pursue other projects) but the fact that they are in the armed forces alone does not say very much about their intelligence. Neither does your attempt to discredit my comment.
@Eric1285: Sorry, Marine Corps. It’s pretty hard to type when I’m trying to eat out of 3 different bags of junk food and washing down a big gulp.
Oh yeah, please explain to me how I have an “irrational” hatred of unions. I thought I explained why I hate unions rather clearly. I simply don’t believe that unskilled or low-skilled laborers should be earning anything more than minimum wage.
Hey, wasn’t “Flight 416″ the book that the plot of “Airplane” was based on? Hmmmm…
This reminds me of the Consumerist story criticizing the car company for disposing of vehicles they thought might be unsafe.
As in: WTF? The pilot felt he was not in a condition to fly and he aborted the flight. Would Consumerist have been happier if he flew when he didn’t feel safe to fly? Wouldn’t Consumerist then be writing about how he shouldn’t have flown and compromised passenger safety?
Really, sometimes Consumerist makes me sympathize with the companies.
@Eric1285: Um, executives receive that kind of compensation because they deserve it. They (usually) earn it through years of dedication and slowly rising through the ranks. They have proven that they (for the most part) are competent enough to handle the daily operations of a huge multinational corporation. How many people do you really think are smart enough to do this job?
You forgot to put the tag after your post, right?
Right?
Right????????????????????
Hopefully they fire the flight crew that taunted this pilot. Union or not, hazing your co-workers should be a fireable offense.
The bottom line is, if the pilot was shaken by a coworker giving him a hard time, he would probably wet his pants and choke when the landing gear doesn’t come down. If you lack the intestinal fortitude to do your job, maybe you should look for some other line of work.
@Tmoney02: Hence me commenting on people arguing about irony and referencing someone else attributing another person’s work as their own. Too elaborate a joke? Maybe!
I dunno… I see being nagged by a cheesed-off crew member on a “500 mile” flight for an hour and a half as more detrimental to the nagger.. not the nagee.
@humphrmi:
True, that flight would probably not use a 747, in fact, it would probably be a regional jet or something else small. I was mostly responding to what the GP said. Also, for the sake of simplicity, I also didn’t mention that a pilot type rated on a 747 would probably also be type rated on a variety of smaller planes (whatever he flew before he was promoted to 747). I have no idea if/when type ratings expire, so my original point may still stand firmly.
@Crim Law Geek:
Type ratings do not expire. They are just like actual pilot certificates that never expire (save for Flight Instructor certificates which DO expire every 24 months).
@Eric1285: While I agree with you that unions do more harm than good at this point, and there are certainly unionized jobs out there that pay too much for the skill required…still, why in the world would you try to make the link at all to pilots with a statement like “You don’t have to be smart to be a pilot. You just have to go through the appropriate training program.”
Sure, and you don’t have to be smart to be a surgeon either. just go through the proper training program. Here’s one to chew on: You also don’t need to be smart to be CEO. You just need to go through the proper training program (MBA) and have some luck, and know the right people. I think the man living in the White House should easily prove your comments about people who manage vs. people who “do”
Pilots, doctors and other high paying, prestigious jobs probably weed out more “dumb” people than the corporate ladder because there is an objective standard and everyone is judged by it.
Now, it goes without saying that the definition of dumb and smart are subjective in a discussion like this, but here’s the final test: We’ll take a major airline pilot and one other random person who “passed the appropriate training program and is responsible and willing to work” for their unionized job. You put your life in one of their hands in some hypothetical situation that is not flying. which one do you pick?
@Eric1285: My god… yes, yes I know you’re a troll and all… but execs DESERVE the money. What kind of a halfwit are you? While I agree that unions have their faults, they have been and continue to be an import part of keeping companies from bullying and undercutting employees. Without unions, we’d never have had a middle class in this society. And unless your parents were rich and you have never had to work an honest day in your life, even if you do own your own business now, you owe where you are to unions.
And to your comment about pilots, I guess the same can be said of executives- all you need is a MBA- which are as simple as paying out for it (the work is a joke) and to know the right people… doesn’t seem like it takes all that much at all… And for the record, most execs I’ve ever known are so stupid, they can barely run a computer, let alone build one.
@badgeman46:”I have a commercial pilot’s license and have been flying since 1993″
You might want to suplement that pilot’s license with a library card.
@rellog:
I also believe that in most situations executives deserve the compensation they earn. Whether or not they can build or use a computer is irrelevant. They are being paid for their ability to manage and grow large organizations.
Bravo to the pilot!!!! I can’t tell you how happy this story has made me. I love when people have the fortitude and courage to stand up for their convictions. I’d be pissed off too. I wouldn’t take off my hat, salute, bow, or curtsy either. As I recall, we refused to pay homage to royalty and even started a revolution to throw them out on their royal asses.
United Airlines management are clearly pompous little men and women who must suffer from a Napoleonic God complex to mandate pilots must remove their hats while in their regal presence. United management ranks up there with the all time, “I’d rather go hungry than work for you” people to work for.
Why does Leona Helmsley come to mind?
Some jobs aren’t worth the paycheck.
Oh and booo-hiss to the company butt licking snitches who just had to run to teacher to tell on the pilot for not taking off his cap. “Teacher!!!! He’s not taking off his cap! Isn’t he supposed to remove it while in your honorable presence?!” Good grief. We all know those people ate by themselves in the school lunchroom and were picked last for teams.
What about the Teacher’s union, everybody? Without it the people who educate your children would be making a lot less than they are now (which isn’t too much to begin with)
But yeah, I’d be pissed if I was on a flight that the pilot walked out on because he was having a bad day.
@Eric1285: Just so the whole Consumerist gang doesn’t think that all engineers are douchebags, I’d like to show my support for Unions and against exorbitant executive pay.
Sincerely,
Hwyengr, BSCE, P.E.
While I don’t agree with the pilot abandoning his flight, like Lambasted I too think to expect a pilot to take off his hat has a sign of respect to management is ridiculous.
@Mr_Human: Unions began by protecting the working class, but now pretty much exist to protect the unions. The worker is just a means to an end for the union now.
And folks who are pissing and moaning about the pilot…If he had flown the plane pissed off into say a MOUNTAIN, would you be happier?
@stinerman: Thanks for making me clarify…..I am in the auto industry. We do sub-assembly for GM. Thankfully I am in IT, and not an overpaid floor grunt or management.
@Eric1285:
Apparently they didn’t teach you how to multiply in Engineering School. $30 per hour times 2080 hours per year (52 weeks per year time 40 hours per week equals 2080 hours per year) works out to just over $62k per year, not $72k. How’s that for making you look bad.
Sincerely,
An Engineer
@Morticia: Yeah, as much as I support the pilot in refusing to participate, it was unprofessional of him to walk off and leave a plane full of people stranded; there are better ways to protest. There are also better ways to protest than staging a childish cap removal. (Though I must confess that I misread the post initially. I thought the cap removal was a management policy not a union protest. Hence, my indignation in my previous comment. Ooops.)
Unions have gotten full of themselves in the past few decades but I still think they are necessary to protect workers rights. Left to their own moral and legal compasses, companies would rather make huge profits even if it is at the expense of satisfying needs of their workers. A single worker has no hope in hell of getting corporate to do anything. But a company forced to deal with all of its unionized workers helps to even bargaining power.
@Mr_Human:
I owe whatever leisure life I have to ME, working like a dog, bud.
I don’t need some fat cat, cigar smoking thug in Boca Raton to help me get ahead.
While one can cherry-pick cases of bad unions or members, one can do the same for managers and companies. And no one (reasonable) is suggesting Capitalism be repealed.
Business runs better in the long run, when both sides are represented equally and fairly. Since management and capital is organized, so should labor. It’s the only way a happy medium is reached.
Management is too short-sighted to run the ship on their own.
Or working out his issues by seeing if a jetliner can do barrel rolls or Immelman turns. Or seeing if he can put the aircraft into a spin and recover.
@Eric1285: Please tell us what you do for a living.
@bloatboy:
Actually, an airliner could do a barrel roll without any issues. It’s a 1g maneuver, which keeps the fuel going into the engines and imposes no more stress than normal on the airplane. Snap rolls are another story, as is the immelman.
Can I still get in on the union bashing?
This is understandable. I have been in the position of having a co-worker piss me off too much to focus on my job. I’m glad I wasn’t flying a plane.
So what if union members make more money? Those guys are the reason why the American auto industry sucks! The Buick LeSabre was built by idiots, in an idiot country. I said it. So fucking what? Airline unions just keep striking until they get more than the CEOs get. This ain’t fair, fellas.
@Pylon83: Although the airplane could take it (as verified by youtube), I don’t think the passengers would enjoy the barrel roll.
I mean, I’d find it awesome. But you know some uppity snot would complain about spilling his drink or falling out of her seat.
How much you want to bet this guy is the first pilot laid off?