While waiting on flight from Atlanta to Kansas City, I heard the second most dreaded words a gate agent can utter…”Delta Flight 1699 is delayed.” Anyone who travels knows those words bring lots of uncertainty. There’s a stir of commotion as passengers pull their itineraries to check connections. A half dozen travelers scurry to ask the gate agent questions. 

According to an announcement from the gate, Delta 1699 was delayed because another flight was late getting in…the flight that carried OUR flight attendants. Evidently Delta policy says without a complete crew, we cannot board. As the grumbling passengers grew increasingly belligerent something happened.  

Although we were nowhere near the new estimated time of departure, we started boarding. Zone by zone we filed on, with greetings from the flight attendants…not our scheduled flight attendants, but uniformed Delta flight attendants just the same. Scheduled as non-rev passengers on our flight, this group of flight attendants volunteered to “stand in” for the scheduled crew that was running late, thereby allowing the plane to fully board and stand ready to depart. These willing volunteers hung coats, took drink orders, seated coach and hoisted bags to the overheads. As the boarding process finalized, our scheduled crew showed up and took over. The volunteers took their assigned seats, the door closed and off we went. 

I’ve not seen this sort of action before and don’t know if its normal procedure for the airlines, but it should be. This simple act of teamwork shaved nearly an hour off of a dismal delay. So here's a Good Samaritan shout-out to those volunteer Delta angels, whoever they were, that stepped up to right a problem. They love to fly and it shows!

-Steve