Pilot Tries To Compensate For Diverted Flight By Ordering Passengers Papa John's

Is the whole country having a crappy travel week? I was recently stuck in Denver overnight trying to get back home from Chicago; a friend of mine had a nightmare experience flying out of New Mexico; and overall, it seems Americans have spent a collectively 983 million years in airports this week. But the situation was just marginally brighter for passengers on American Airlines flight 2354 from Los Angeles to Dallas-Fort Worth, whose pilot bought all of them pizzas after weather forced the plane to land at Wichita Falls, Texas' municipal airport Thursday.

Fox-6 reports the 159 passengers were bracing to be stuck in Wichita Falls overnight, at which point the pilot, Jeff Raines, ordered (and presumably paid for) 40 Papa John's pizzas for delivery to the airport. Say what you will about his choice of pizzeria, but this is a very nice gesture on Mr. Raines' part.

The pilot reportedly deflected praise, saying it was a "team effort" between his first officer and flight attendants to keep passengers fed and hydrated while booking them hotel rooms for the night. (I got no such snacking assistance at the Denver airport, for the record.)

Because no airline can possibly miss a chance for good publicity to replace the typical "airports are a post-apocalyptic nightmare" headlines, American Airlines spokesman Tom Henderson piggybacked on the news, telling Fox-6: "We are always proud of our crew members who take great care of our customers who fly on American Airlines and are fortunate that they are the best in the business."

Not to throw shade, but the best in the business would have ordered those pies from Stone Oven.