American Eagle pilot tries to amuse his passengers and fails
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Earth
Posts: 244
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
American Eagle pilot tries to amuse his passengers and fails
Passengers on American Eagle flight 4891 from New York's La Guardia airport en route to Cleveland were already running 2 hours late when the pilot asked the flight attendant to advise the passengers that the aircraft would be diverted to Toledo. The reason given was "an emergency has shutdown Cleveland Hopkins Airport".
Once the plane landed, passengers whipped out their mobile phones, expecting the need to make plans to get to their final destination, only to discover that the pilot had played a prank on them. There was no "emergency" and the plane has actually landed exactly where it was supposed to be.
Needless to say that some of the passengers didn't share his sense of humor. American Eagle has confirmed the incident, and claims the matter is now "a personnel issue". Fingers crossed for the pilot that someone at HQ understands the need for a joke every now and then.
What are your thoughts on this? Would you laugh it off, or immediately write a letter demanding one million miles?
Once the plane landed, passengers whipped out their mobile phones, expecting the need to make plans to get to their final destination, only to discover that the pilot had played a prank on them. There was no "emergency" and the plane has actually landed exactly where it was supposed to be.
Needless to say that some of the passengers didn't share his sense of humor. American Eagle has confirmed the incident, and claims the matter is now "a personnel issue". Fingers crossed for the pilot that someone at HQ understands the need for a joke every now and then.
What are your thoughts on this? Would you laugh it off, or immediately write a letter demanding one million miles?
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: UK
Age: 70
Posts: 288
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If it were genuinely funny, I suppose I could manage a wry smile, as long as I was told before I made alternative arrangements. But its just an irritation. I know we always say this side of the pond that Americans are humourless (not true actually) but I've lived there (DFW) and I don't think even Americans would find that funny....
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: NI
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
That's a bit mean. I think I would be pleased if it happened and would see the funny side. However, I can see why other people would be P'd off. Good sense of humour - although is it verging on unprofessionalism?
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Berkeley
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
stupid ...
Great way to provoke many passengers worried about the family in the airport waiting to meet them to pull out cell phones in flight and try to reach them to make sure they're OK.
At least for those unable to look out the window and recognize where they are.
Call it a test --- whether sudden multiple simultaneous passenger cell phone use while the aircraft is on final approach can cause any risk to navigation.
At least for those unable to look out the window and recognize where they are.
Call it a test --- whether sudden multiple simultaneous passenger cell phone use while the aircraft is on final approach can cause any risk to navigation.
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: fairly close to the colonial capitol
Age: 55
Posts: 1,693
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think the joke would have been much more effective had the flight been scheduled to land in IBZ and the fake diversion was HEL - in mid-winter. 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Montgomery, NY, USA
Posts: 137
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I fly almost every week, and have for a long time. (SLF). Making a quick comment or a pun may be one thing, but leading your passengers into thinking they are going to be seriously inconvenienced is another. With all of the frustrations in flying now days, you just don't need this added into your day. I doubt AA will find it very funny.
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: UK
Age: 85
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Now for something really funny
Someone from pretending to be from American Eagle operations should call him and tell him he has an extra duty on his day off. When he arrives for work everyone could have a good laugh at the time he wasted. Undoubtedly he would see the funny side of this childlike prank
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: California
Posts: 132
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Not cool at all. Flying around CONUS in the back of an airliner can be enough of an ordeal 
without this kind of unnecessary thing going on. Not even remotely funny. With that being said I hope they don't throw the book at the guy and a lesson is learned here, nothing more.You want "funny" - try the US FA who, upon the usual carrier-style landing at SNA a year or two ago, announced "that wasn't the pilot's fault, that was asphalt". Boom boom.
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Gone sailing
Age: 58
Posts: 115
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Not funny
Perhaps it´s me but I don´t see what is funny with this...
After 2 hours of waiting I´d rather expect the driver to give me a good laugh
No need to call my lawyer though
After 2 hours of waiting I´d rather expect the driver to give me a good laugh
No need to call my lawyer though
Last edited by 20milesout; 26th Aug 2008 at 21:19. Reason: Lawyer added
The world hates a flat joke.
I just read an article about how we perceive humor. If it's not funny we hold strong feelings against the author.
So the passengers walked off somewhat pizzed, it's what they do afterwards that counts. If no harm was done let it go, I'm sure it won't happen again.
There is no sense in making an example by disciplining the pilot and throwing away a perfectly good and now even more experienced pilot.
I just read an article about how we perceive humor. If it's not funny we hold strong feelings against the author.
So the passengers walked off somewhat pizzed, it's what they do afterwards that counts. If no harm was done let it go, I'm sure it won't happen again.
There is no sense in making an example by disciplining the pilot and throwing away a perfectly good and now even more experienced pilot.
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Rockytop, Tennessee, USA
Posts: 5,898
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
The article in the CLE paper indicated that at least one of the pax was not amused:
Pilot's joke gets no laughs from passengers - Tipoff by Michael K. McIntyre - Cleveland.com
...The flight's first officer told the attendant to announce that an emergency had closed Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the flight's destination.
"I hear 'emergency at the airport' and the first thing I'm thinking is bomb," said passenger Stephen Hazan Arnoff.
Once on the ground, passengers fired up cell phones to call family members or arrange for rental cars. Then they discovered they were in Cleveland.
The first officer had played a "joke" on them, the frustrated flight attendant said, and was still laughing about it in the cockpit. Such a "joke" by a passenger would no doubt result in arrest at the gate.
Some didn't find it funny.
"It's like yelling fire in a crowded theater," said Hazan Arnoff, executive director of the 14th Street Y, a Jewish community center in Manhattan. He was visiting family and attending meetings in Cleveland.
Andrea Huguely, a spokeswoman for American Eagle, confirmed the incident, and it's now a "personnel issue."
Said Hazan Arnoff: "Those pilots should be fired."
"I hear 'emergency at the airport' and the first thing I'm thinking is bomb," said passenger Stephen Hazan Arnoff.
Once on the ground, passengers fired up cell phones to call family members or arrange for rental cars. Then they discovered they were in Cleveland.
The first officer had played a "joke" on them, the frustrated flight attendant said, and was still laughing about it in the cockpit. Such a "joke" by a passenger would no doubt result in arrest at the gate.
Some didn't find it funny.
"It's like yelling fire in a crowded theater," said Hazan Arnoff, executive director of the 14th Street Y, a Jewish community center in Manhattan. He was visiting family and attending meetings in Cleveland.
Andrea Huguely, a spokeswoman for American Eagle, confirmed the incident, and it's now a "personnel issue."
Said Hazan Arnoff: "Those pilots should be fired."
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Vienna, Austria
Age: 57
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
50% of a joke is how it is delivered, so there is chance that it was 50% funny at the time. 
However, even if something was 100% funny, I'd be hesitant to use it even in my (non airline, non-security-related) line of work. Sense of humor seems on a decline, generally speaking.
However, even if something was 100% funny, I'd be hesitant to use it even in my (non airline, non-security-related) line of work. Sense of humor seems on a decline, generally speaking.