It's a small victory, but I'll take what I can get.
Today I woke up at 5:30 AM to drive the airport for an 8:00 flight. I had to be in New York by 11:00 for a meeting, with a plan to fly home afterward.
We boarded on time, and at 8:15 the pilot pulled away from the gate. At 8:30 we stopped rolling and the pilot said we were on a weather hold (bad fog in NYC) for about 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes later the pilot said we were going to park for an hour on the runway.
Looking at my watch, I figured there was no chance I'd get to my meeting, which might be over before I got to it. I called the flight attendant and asked him if there was any way I could get off the plane. He went to the front of the cabin and called the pilot, then came back to me and said, "No, we're just going to sit here for an hour."
I took out my cell phone and called my office. I asked one of my colleagues to contact the local tv station and have them bring a crew out to get video of American Airlines passengers being held hostage for an hour. (This is something I know how to make happen.) I spoke loud enough so everyone around me could hear, including the flight attendant, who decided he would ask the pilot again.
Within two minutes, the plane began to roll back to the terminal. I phoned my office again and called off the media.
I received a lecture from the flight attendant, who criticized me for "causing inconvenience for the other passengers." Which was total bullshit. No one was inconvenienced whatsoever. Some passengers even cheered and shook my hand when I eventually left the plane. One older man said he was proud of me. (I'm an old man myself, but this guy had me beat by a decade.)
The plane then taxied back to the tarmac and sat around for another hour.
There's a lesson in this. Don't take shit from airlines under any circumstance. They are afraid of bad publicity and rightly so. When they start to screw with you, don't argue with them. Just call the local tv station - and make sure everyone can hear you.
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Like I said, I'll take what I can get.