I have read a few posts on here regarding interactions between the Captain and FO in regards to flight attendants. I also read the posts about flying passengers vs. cargo. While I understand that a pilot for a passenger airline will generally interact with passengers, what is the nature of the interactions? I know the Captain holds the final authority on a passenger staying or leaving a flight due to safety concerns. Are non-safety interactions limited to greeting and saying goodbye to passengers before and after the flight? As for in-flight, are passenger concerns, outside of safety, brought to the pilots from flight attendants, or are most passenger concerns not affecting the safety or operation of the aircraft left to the flight attendants?
I ask this because I saw a picture of a log from a flight and the pilot noted that the passengers complained about the internet being slow. I know it was probably just a humorous piece, but I wondered if something like slow Wi-Fi would be a concern that would need to be addressed to the pilot even if it does not seem to impact the safety or operation of the aircraft?
P.S. I did my research on in-flight Wi-Fi as well. Very interesting. If any pilots here have opinions or comments about WiFi on airplanes and how it may impact their job, those comments would be appreciated too even if it goes off topic a bit.
Other than sometimes greeting and saying goodbye to passengers, we generally have very little interaction with the passengers. We are busy during the preflight, so don’t have much time and during the flight we do not leave the cockpit unless necessary for biological reasons. If there are any issues on the ground, the FAs and customer service agents deal with it, while in the air the FAs deal with the issue. Of course in both settings the pilots are kept in the loop and are always the final decision makers.
In the case of wifi, that is a maintenance issue (like needing new seat cushions, broken tray tables, etc) so that is entered into the aircraft logbook by the pilots so that maintenance personnel can address it.
I love onboard wifi, I always use it when I am a passenger, usually to answer questions on this website
Before I get off topic, does the pilot have any control over the Wi-Fi antenna? Is the pilot able to shut off the receiving antenna or even the Wi-Fi in-flight?
While the FAs and CSAs deal with passenger issues on the ground, passenger issues in flight can become the pilot’s problem too. Obviously the safety of all is a consideration so if a passenger is unruly or worse gets violent we may need to divert to get that passenger off the plane. Same goes for a sick passenger. American Airlines is being sued by the family of a sick passenger (who later died) because the pilot continued the flight. Personally (although rare) passenger issues are in my opinion the most challenging problems pilots face. Mechanical issues are fairly cut and dry. We have procedures for virtually any and every possible emergency but a sick passenger? That can require input and decisions from medical personnel, some who may not even be on the plane and obviously no one wants a death on their watch.
As for the WiFi I haven’t had to deal with it yet but sometimes the entertain systems don’t work. Definitely not the end of the world.
My question is why does Captain Joe only have 3 stripes?
From what I’ve heard, “Captain” Joe says he only uses the title for marketing, but was actually First Officer Joe for Air Berlin and now flies at Cargolux. I apologize if I get off topic, but is it normal to be an FO for 8 years? I know it varies by airline, but I have been trying to find the industry average for that.
As for passenger issues, does ATP’s curriculum address this in-depth during training or is this a topic usually reserved and trained on at the airline level? I assume this falls under crew resource management, right? Is there recurring training on these types of issues? As you mention, there was the American Airlines case and I assume there are plenty of others.
Being a first officer for eight years, or much longer is very normal. It took me ten years to hold captain at a major and many pilots chose to wait much longer due to seniority and quality of life reasons.
Customer service issues are taught by the airline, ATP is more concerned with teaching you how to fly.
You’d be hard-pressed to find an average time for FOs. I upgraded at a Regional in 2yrs and 4.5 at a Major but I know pilots who have not and never will upgrade. As Chris said at United 8yrs+ is the norm. First as you mention it can vary greatly by carrier but equipment has a lot to do with it as well. While you might think everyone would want to upgrade ASAP that’s not often the case. Quality of life, routes, commutes and schedules all play into the equation.
As Chris said ATP does no training regarding passenger issues. Why would they? Student pilots have no passengers and frankly not every pilot will fly for airlines. It also doesn’t really fall under CRM except as far as it relates to how the flight crew interacts and coordinates with the cabin crew. The fact is most airline pilots receive very little training in this area as it generally is simply covered by “customer service” policies. The fact is for the most part passenger issues are considered “commercial” considerations vs “operational”, the latter being our jurisdiction.
Yeah, it definitely makes sense that learning that type of stuff too early would not make sense. Plus, I guess that would be a hard thing to train for since a lot of passenger and crew interaction can vary due to so factors.
I guess you could say thank goodness for flight attendants!
Thank you to you and Chris for the insights! It is always a pleasure to hear from professionals about these issues.
