- We’re not talking about technical issues of flying an airliner, here. We’re talking about issues such as human interactivity, exercise of authority, command and leadership skills and, yes, possible legal issues. And, in that respect, I fail to see where airline captains are more qualified to discuss such matters than a lot of other people. So some hardliners here should step down from their self-built pedestal. Who knows, they actually may end up learning something…
(JAR OPS ATPL holder typing, flying B777 for major european airline)
----> so I actually know what I am talking about.
Well, you are quite right. Let's suppose that both the senior FA and the Captain of this flight are both allowed to continue their jobs with United. That would mean that the captain has apparently "won" the argument whether he was entitled to make the Miami stopover for whatever reason.
So in a purely legal sense, he was right. He had the command authority to do as he pleased.
But that is more or less where it ends. The rest of his command authority has been destroyed by his own actions. His position as an effective captain has been undermined by himself.
Crew members will refuse to fly with him, and probably for the wrong reasons, but nontheless...
One of the specific tasks our company has attributed to the captain, is team building. Creating a positive working atmosphere. I am sure UAL has the same sort of system. Apparently this captain has forgotten about this very important, non technical aspect of leaderhip.
So I would probably guess that in a few years, this incident will serve as an example in CRM classrooms.
If I decide to divert and offload a crew member due to safety concerns, (whether justified or not) that would automatically mean that I have to file a so-called Air Safety Report. Which automatically makes it an "Incident".