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Forgetting those who served at Pearl Harbor

C

CWOJackson

Charter Member
Someone at United needs to look into this. Granted, they needed to boot some customers, but a 90 year old man traveling alone?

A 90-year-old World War II veteran en route to a ceremony marking the 72[SUP]nd[/SUP] anniversary of the attack at Pearl Harbor was booted from his flight to accommodate the weight of additional jet fuel needed for the trip.
According to Hawaii News Now, Ewalt “Walt” Shatz, a WWII veteran credited with shooting down a Japanese plane during the 1941 attack, was scheduled to take a United Airlines flight direct from Los Angeles to Honolulu on Wednesday, but was re-booked on an American Airlines flight leaving eight hours later that included a layover in Maui.

“I was surprised. I didn't know which way to go. Here I am at LAX with all these people and it's all new to me. I was just lost I didn't know what to do which is an awful feeling," Shatz told the paper.Shatz was traveling alone and suffers from macular degeneration, an eye condition that limits his sight. "They just left me kind of stranded. Here I'm 90 years old, and I don't know -- I really didn't have anybody else I could call."Shatz said he was told by a United Airlines agent at LAX only two passengers on the Boeing 737 to Honolulu had been booted.

"I thought that they just overbooked the deal and they were trying to get rid of a couple of customers and somebody had my seat -- and that's what made me mad, because I paid for that seat. I paid for that seat and somebody else is sitting in it," Shatz told WOAI News 4. “I was lost. I didn’t know what to do.”Shatz reportedly told two United desk agents -- and a supervisor -- he was a WWII vet invited to attend a remembrance ceremony at the USS Arizona memorial to mark the attack’s anniversary.United, in a statement to Hawaii News Now, said, “Inclement weather in the path of United flight 1226 required the flight to carry additional fuel and, as a result, reduce the number of passengers on board by 41.“

United agents in Los Angeles re-booked those customers, including Mr. Shatz, on the best available alternate flights on United and other airlines. We look forward to speaking with Mr. Shatz and the other affected customers.”Shatz arrived in Honolulu just before midnight and in time for the ceremony.Word of his Shatz’s plight traveled quickly on the Internet, and 71 people – mostly U.S. service members – organized a last-second welcoming party for him at the airport in Honolulu.

"Getting ready to put my khakis on and go greet a WWII vet (Pearl Harbor Survivor)... If you are on island and would like to come greet and honor this hero, come on out," Navy Chief Benjiman Scott wrote in part on his Facebook page, according to the paper. "Everybody wanted a picture with me and they were making out like I was hero, but I'm not really. It was embarrassing in a way, but I liked it. It was nice," Shatz told WOAI News 4. Reportedly added Chief Navy Counselor Rex Parmelee: “This is why we're serving. We're here to tell their story. We're here to show our respect for them. It's a tremendous honor and that's why we take it so serious.

Heritage is huge."Shatz was 18 years old in 1941 when Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor. The Navy has reportedly credited him with shooting down a Japanese plane during the battle with an anti-aircraft gun."I don't know if I did or not; somebody said I did,” Shatz reportedly said. “I fired a 50 caliber machine gun and it's possible I did shoot at some planes, but whether I hit any or not -- that's another story. I don't take any credit for any of that. Whether I did or not, probably only God knows.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/0...-to-pearl-harbor-ceremony-booted-from-flight/
 
On one hand, I can understand weather and such things affecting a scheduled flight, as it appears this situation was about. I can also understand that it's impossible to expect every airline employee to be aware of the situation involving every passenger on the flight. On the other hand, my understanding sort of starts to fizzle out when I read that Shatz told “two desk agents and a supervisor” why he was going to Hawaii... It would have been heart warming to read that one of those airline employees raised holy hell and got this man back on the flight, but that would have been “unusual”. I'm glad he was, at least, booked on another flight in time for the events he traveled all that way for.

O.T.: Shot this pic in 1982, from up in the island of USS Enterprise (CVN-65) I hope US Navy ships still do this when they visit this place...

 
I liked how some Navy Chiefs learned of his plight and arranged an impromptu welcoming committee for him.

Good men!
 
PRB, I feel the same way. The fact that none of the United employees had the customer service skills (or just common decency) to understand this gentleman's need to get to Honolulu in a timely manner is enough to keep me off United for any future flights I may take. Whether you shot at Japanese planes 72 years ago or just returned from Afghanistan last month, seems like nowadays not too many people really give a sh*t that you served your country.
 
This is exactly what has happened in the airline industry. It has become cold and impersonal. It is exactly like the recent example that caused a passenger revolt when a completely overbearing flight attendant tried to throw a blind man off the plane vice make available accommodations for the man's service dog. The passengers witnessed the conduct of the flight attendant and when the plane taxied back to the gate, a security agent came onboard to ask the blind man and his dog off the plane. Then, when the flight crew tried to close the door, suddenly the rest of the passengers realized what had just happened and immediately all the passengers on the flight revolted and demanded to be let off the plane.

They gave very choice words to the surly attendant and directed additional anger to the pilot. I'm sure the flight crew hardly expected anything like that to happen, but every single passenger walked off the flight, and let loose a unified barrage of rage on the gate agent.

This is what happens when an industry forgets who pays their salaries! Those are harsh words, but the words are well earned. Something bad has happened in the airline industry and I have seen it firsthand. Too many regard their passengers as self-mobile freight. Too few remain in the industry who regard them as paying customers. The industry has become arrogant and is long overdue for a serious comeuppance.

This latest example just makes them look even worse.

Ken
 
Well said, Ken. Airline travel has changed a lot since the late 60's when I traveled in uniform and used to get my drinks ahead of the civilian passengers. Or the time I got "lei'd" (as in the flower necklace) by one of the stewardesses aboard a United "Aloha Flight" making the short hop to San Diego after arriving at LAX from Honolulu. I have to say Southwest seems to treat their passengers right. I flew them down to FL and back when I visited my son and his family in 2011. Friendly environment on the aircraft. Didn't like the seating where you're packed in like sardines in a can (tube?). I need more room between me and the guy in front of me.
 
"O.T.: Shot this pic in 1982, from up in the island of USS Enterprise (CVN-65) I hope US Navy ships still do this when they visit this place..."

This is a tradition that is still observed, and I would hope it always will be. I had the opportunity to pass the memorial while on deck and participate in rendering honors to the fallen shipmates. It is an experience that is hard to convey in words...when the whistle was blown to salute I made it the best one I ever rendered. It was really more of an emotional moment than I thought it would be.

A picture from last week of the USS Nimitz passing the monument

web_131203-N-TW634-115.JPG


 
Carriers berth at the Fuel Pier which is just across the channel from the Arizona. That's where Nimitz is in the pic. When you arrive in port you render honors in the final moments before you tie up.When you come around the west side of Ford Island you render honors when passing the Utah. Back in the day ALL of us manning the rail would snap a hand salute when "Attention to Port" was called away. I guess in the new "Nanny Navy" they've decided that junior enlisted are incompetent to render smart salutes so they have officers and Chiefs in the rear rank to do it for them... SMH.
 
And then today I read that another regional airliner's flight crew were so negligent that they ignored a passenger asleep in his chair and locked him in the airplane! Not only a safety issue for the passenger, but a terrible security blunder by the airline staff!

Ken
 
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