A pilot came into a plane cabin to personally apologise because of a delay taking off and offer passengers free drinks, in an unprecedented move this week.
The unusual event happened onboard an American Airlines flight from Phoenix, Arizona to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on 21 May.
In a video shared by a passenger on Twitter, the pilot can be seen walking down the aisle and asking: “How we doing, guys?”
“Another fantastic on-time American Airlines departure, right?”, the pilot is heard joking, prompting passengers to laugh in response.
“My apologies on that, seriously,” he says, explaining the plane “got caught up in Puerto Vallarta”, on its previous journey, adding: “We’ll do what we can to get you there as quickly as possible.”
After sharing the weather conditions and anticipated flight time, he continues: “We’re gonna give you a good ride.”
Sharing the situation which subsequently unfolded, passenger Sami Muhonen wrote: “I have travelled a lot but this has never happened. The captain himself comes face to face to tell why we are late and of course apologized. Also promised to provide free drinks on the @AmericanAir bill. This is customer service. Thank you!”
Twitter followers were quick to comment underneath the social media post.
After a Twitter user said that the pilot in question is her husband and called Rod Campbell, the original poster replied: “A unique pilot I would say.”
Other people were also appreciative of the gesture, with one person writing: “we love Captain Rod! He’s the best!”.
“Aww, he’s awesome. Love this!”, another user said.
Someone else suggested that the story is simply “captains being captains.”
This is the latest example of a pilot using creative ways to impress from the sky.
In March, a disabled pilot “drew” a wheelchair symbol with a flight path.
An easyJet pilot also went above and beyond in February, when they did a 360-degree detour to give passengers a glimpse of the Northern Lights.
Meanwhile, in November last year a Southwest Airlines pilot reached out of the plane window to retrieve a passenger’s phone.
The Independent has contacted American Airlines for comment.
