Why Do Airlines LIE About Things Like This??

Maybe you can tell me... why, when it's REALLY CLEAR what's delaying a plane or causing problems with a flight, do airlines adamantly refuse to tell passengers anything meaningful? Like, we can SEE right out the window of the aircraft (or sometimes from the terminal) and observe what's going on.

Why not offer even a modicum of explanation to show respect and kindness to everyone who is waiting? If you know why this is, tell me below. 🙃

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[avonedwins]

Airline pilot here… so we don’t get our final weight and balance information until every bag and piece of cargo is scanned on. At 9:21 you can see the guy at the bottom of the screen with the scanner in his hand. Once they send the baggage and cargo details we can then get our weight and balance and takeoff data so we can depart. Often times we have no clue if the ramp folks are having difficulties unless they come up and tell us. So likely the captain only knew that they were waiting on the final load paperwork and didn’t know why. Hope this helps.

[konradw]

That fuel transfer literally included everything that could be done wrong. Apart from igniting the fuel.

[robbgosset]

Purely speculation but I'd imagine it's for a couple of reasons: Firstly to avoid triggering anyone that suffers from a fear of flying, if they hear "we are having a problem with *tech jargon*" then they might go "oh no, something's wrong with the plane, this is gonna go final destination on us" as cause a scene. Secondly, it's possible the crew may have been BSed to by the ground crew for whatever reason so may not actually be aware that the loading has been delayed by a faulty conveyor.

[fruitshuit]

I can imagine captains may not want to mention mechanical breakdowns, to avoid upsetting nervous or superstitious passengers. Still, even if that is the reason, "We're just getting all your baggage on, I'm just awaiting confirmation the handlers are done and we can go" would avoid saying anything about the broken down belt, but would still be a reasonable summary of the reason for delay.

[PocketWomen]

It's always nice to watch people that take pride in their work and take care and follow safety procedures. Shame none of that happened at this workplace, Happy flying everyone!

[jayerjavec]

Technically captain was not lying - since loading was not complete that piece of paper was not issued yet. As soon as these really funny but extremely incompetent ramp guys finished loading, load manager would print it out and finally get it signed by the captain.

But important to note, ramp guys and ground crews are usually not working for the airline so let's not mix those two entities together.

[EliteAmmunition]

Technically he is telling the truth. He can't sign the departure docs until they are submitted to him and as long as the plane isn't fully loaded yet no form.

[neoeinstein]

Also, something to note, pilots of these big airplanes don't have side view or rear view mirrors. They are often at the mercy of ground crews and the flight attendants to provide information about what is going on behind the flight deck. From within the flight deck, they would be able to tell that the cargo door was still open, but wouldn't really know _why_.

[Erpyrikk]

the pilot is technically correct that they are waiting for a form stating the plane is loaded.

[cdrv]

As an airline pilot there are several things that make this happen. First, we can't hardly see the wingtips let alone anything else. Two, we are the last to get any information, let alone good information. Messages that are passed go through many hands and are either coded to a generic type or are mutilated by the phone game. We are often just as frustrated with what is said. The pilots first comment about a paper to sign was nothing to do with the baggage. We have to sign a "release" for each flight saying we are with the planning for the flight.

[JRWhitbey]

Could the piece of paper they're waiting on be the weights & balance sheet, which couldn't be completed until everything was loaded? Trying to give the pilot the benefit of doubt here, so could be some legitimacy in his claim if the ground crew wasn't done and the paperwork couldn't be completed yet.

[needsanewname]

Just a guess, as my only aviation experience is military, not civilian, but the air crew probably had no idea what was happening. The pilots are in the middle of their preflight procedures, talking to the tower, things like that, and the FA's are busy setting up the passenger compartment and getting everyone settled. The piece of paper the captain was referring to is mostly likely the weight and balance form, which the loadmaster (or whatever the civilian equivalent is called) has to fill out and sign off on before the plane can move at all. Plus the ground crew has to get all their equipment free, close up the cargo hatch, tie down all the luggage, and then verify that everything is set up the way its supposed to be set up. All in all the aircrew was probably as frustrated as the passengers were, wondering what the hell ground was doing and where the hell the weight and balance authority was to sign the W/B sheet. Sure, they could look out the window, but without talking to anyone or getting the ground crew manager on the radio (which can be unreasonably hard to do sometimes lol) they most likely were totally out of the loop.

[jsihavealotofplaylists]

You're allowed to spill up to 5 square feet of fuel before needing to worry, but any amount is worrisome.

[Giftedbryan]

Gasoline and styrofoam cups? Yeah you're making Napalm there bud

[perodjuce]

the illusion of safety, tell a bunch of mouth breathers that there is a problem with a piece of machinery at the airport they assume theyre going to die in a firey crash.

[ParkerUAS]

Former pilot here...

We often don't get the story and can't see what you see.

In your instance the baggage handlers ran a diesel out of fuel. Adding diesel doesn't just make it work again, you have to purge the air.

The handler probably has to notify a supervisor, who notifies airline rep, who notifies gate agent, who notifies pilot. This game of telephone means info is crap and we, the crew, know it. So instead of saying something DEFINITELY wrong and possibly concerning, we have standard things that are PROBABLY wrong, but non specific. Updates later on can add info and that is better than correcting false info.

And the "we're waiting on paperwork" is usually true. We have to get a sheet from baggage on what was loaded and where (because often it doesn't fit to plan), we need the fuel sheet (because often it is over/under and we need to verify the load works), we need the passenger manifest (maybe seat 34A missed the flight), finally we finalize and verify weather/flight plan.

Oh, and don't get me started on ATC issues that are really hard to explain to non-aviation nerds.

[beergeekcom]

Don't always assume everyone knows everything going on just because you can see it through your window. Pilot is busy doing his thing and probably didn't have the final write off / total of what was loaded on the plane, so he was telling the truth.

Not to mention, how reassuring would it be if he did know what was going on and said the ground crew are being dumb asses and spilling gas everywhere. We gotta wait for them to figure out their shit before we can leave.

And third, ground crew probably not reporting back that they screwed up and spilled gas everywhere and broke a conveyer.

[SirProfessorBadass]

You likely knew more than the pilot did in this scenario. He/she is up front in the cockpit doing all of the other preflight checks that are required prior to departure, and likely all they were told is there's a delay and they'll get the weight and balance paperwork soon. Ops likely doesn't know shit, because the ramp guys are just telling them "we'll be done soon."

[chriholt]

The pilot probably couldn't sign off on his paperwork until all the cargo/luggage was loaded.

[vaderjo]

At least with the new conveyer, they kept the wheel chocks out of the path of danger and safely sitting on the fender!