Solidarity on Southwest Flight 434

Flying on bargain airlines truly is a singular experience. Heck, flying in general these days is a new and ever changing experience. And no airline makes more of an impact then Southwest. Let me paint the picture...

I was due to leave SLC on the 12:30 flight. The airport is small and mid-afternoon flights are generally light. A great time to fly, no hassle. I appear on time and go through the normal obstacle course, making my way to my gate. Upon arriving I am greeted with some news. "Sorry, your flight has been cancelled due to mechanical issues." I was to be rebooked on a later flight. I saw my opportunity and asked for some kind of compensation. My demands were quickly rebuffed and my new flight was to leave an hour later.

I sat down, somewhat defeated, and sat in the appointed area. I asked around and found several over mildly annoyed passengers who had been pushed back. I would normally be competing and elbowing these people for the front of the line; now they were my allies and fellow martyrs. We banded together and went to Customer Service only to be pushed back again. And we waited.

Finally our time to board approached. As the line jockeying began we observed our plane. There was a crew outside working outside on its landing gear. Within minutes we got news that the plane had issues and that we were being pushed back again. This was the second plane with issues in less then an hour. Our mild annoyance turned into frustration.

Over the next two additional hours we followed the same routine. A poor employee would have to get on the intercom and inform us that things had been pushed back even more and that we would be getting more news in a bit. Another plane was finally rerouted and we left SLC about 3 1/2 hours later then promised.

During this waiting time I forged strong ties with the people in line. It's strange to think that during normal conditions I wouldn't make any kind of effort to strike up conversation with someone else. On the contrary, everyone seems so self involved, selfishly guarding their place and their personal space. But the minute that the passengers are wronged or the flight is delayed then we become a band of brothers fighting for our cause of fair passenger treatment. We are martyrs and fellow sufferers. We open up and before you know it I am shown pictures of some ladies grandkids. For those three hours we are family.

And the flight ends and we go about our own business. Flying truly is a strange experience. It is a great experiment in observing individual behavior and group dynamics. We can either see the best or worst in people when we watch them act around strangers.