I actually expressed my profound disbelief when my girlfriend and I saw that ad for the first time. A minor argument ensued based on the fact that I'm "no expert", "cynical", and/or "negative about everything".

Thanks for clearing it up just a little.

The fact that people so readily believe this commercial says a lot about how little credibility the airlines have with their customers. Passengers have been either lied to (either by commission or omission) so much that they're entirely willing to believe a story premised on an airline misinforming (or lying to) one of its own employees.

be so kind as to whip out his iPhone and order 40 pepperoni pizzas and some bread sticks while we're sitting here for the next five goddamned hours just six feet from the gate ramp?

Thank you.

Here's a related use for your I-phone. When I'm in Seattle and they announce that my flight departureis delayed a half hour, and I can tell online that it hasn't left it's starting city an hour or two away, it's time to plan accordingly. The airlines like to dribble out the delays this way to keep you from rebooking on another airline.

This advertisement simply promotes the tunnel vision which is ever present in today's society.

We are all caught up in our own arrogant little worlds where we all know best. If someone tells us something we don't want to hear, it cannot possibly be correct, there must be a conspiracy at work which is hiding 'the truth'.

It is no different to the ever growing problem of road rage whereby ignorant drivers who have no idea of the 'big picture' decide that they have been slighted by some poor fellow road user, and decide to react aggressively rather than accept that not everything will work out in their favour all of the time.

As an airline pilot myself, there is nothing more infuriating than a passenger who decides that he or she knows best. They know 'the truth' and they make their views known through cowardly remarks under their breath as they leave the aircraft, knowing that the pilots have not been sitting there working on a smart alec response and so will most likely simply smile and say good bye as they walk past.

No doubt they leave our aircraft feeling smug and slightly elated having 'showed them'.

In my experience, the airlines do not lie. I am not a novelist and so the task of making up yet another story in order to cover up the latest problem would be impossible.

I accept that as pilots we do not give our passengers a thorough description of any mechanical problems which are causing delays, but this is merely a sensible approach to the problem. Passengers need to know that we have a technical issue which is preventing our departure. The fact that is a crack in the number one blocker door in the number two engine is irrelevant, and often leads to more questions which are impossible to answer unless a mechanic is present.

It is not a case of lying, it is simply an effective way of dealing which one of the many issues we face on a daily basis.

Unfortunately the general public thinks pilots are overpaid, underworked individuals, who simply sit up the front and do very little, particularly since modern aircraft are full of technology and highly automated. What they do not realise is that the modern airline pilot is less of a pilot, and more of a crisis manager. Prioritising the various issues at hand is what we do every minute we are preparing for or conducting a flight.

The less time spent explaining our problem to passengers, the more time spent getting the problem sorted out and the aeroplane into the air.

Think about it logically for a moment. Which is the more likely scenario; 1) The reason for the delay is as described by the pilots or 2) The airline is engaged in a network wide conspiracy which is aimed at keeping you on the ground at your departure port, angry and frustrated?

It's time to sit back and look at the bigger picture for a change.

Just watched the ad and here's where it's interesting:

"So I called the dispatcher and he took another look at the weather and (beat, a little affirmative tilt of the head) sure enough, within another half hour we were clear to go."

It's the "sure enough" that's the clever part here, it leaves room for all sorts of meaning and everything pretty much hinges on this phrase.

Does it mean "sure enough, what I saw was confirmed because they saw it too and cleared us"?

Or, does it mean (as it clearly implies) "Sure enough, what I told them made them sit up and check because they're obviously too lazy or low-tech to just check the damn weather, compared to me and my amazing decoder ring, er I mean iPhone, so, because of ME, we were cleared!"

Since you tell me that this was based on something real, this turn of phrase gives the pilot a way to say it wasn't completely fabricated, because meaning A above could be the case.

They're manipulative, and perhaps even evil, but they're not idiots. That's for sure.

Yes, airlines lie. The stewardess on a recent flight from Portland, ME, to Newark, NJ, openly confirmed it.

My boarding pass claimed the short 50 minute gate-to-gate flight was 1h40m. The extra time? Padding, in case it was required due to delays.

In the end, I was delayed in Portland. The flight was showing up on the screens as "On Time" right up to about 10 minutes past the scheduled departure time when a guy came on the PA and announced departure was delayed over 2 hours due to weather and an ATC problem in Newark.

I already knew all of this because the delay meant I would miss my connecting flight in Newark and they made efforts to find me an alternate routing at check-in time. The guy at the gate in Portland was heroic by the way and I salute him, top to bottom professional!

But unfortunately, this also masked another lie.

My connecting flight was also showing up as departing "On Time". I was checking live departure screens on the EWR website on my Nokia phone (you don't need an iPhone to check the web via GPRS peeps...any decent cellphone will do!)

Even as our 2 hour delay shortened to 90 minutes and I was getting ready to board the flight to Newark, my connection to Ottawa was still showing up as an on time departure.

In the event, as I got off the plane in Newark I was swiftly whisked to the waiting Ottawa flight, sitting waiting for me and one other passenger on my flight, and I was home and dry.

So my question is, why do flights that the airlines *know* are going to be delayed shown as on time right up until the very last second?!

Oh, the printout I received from the official in Portland with my backup reservation the next morning, "just-in-case" gave the reason for the delay: "light rain".

Sigh.