Thread: Another TSA Blunder but With a Happy and Not so Happy Ending

Grandparents thank airline for holding plane

By Kyle Glazier
The Denver Post

Posted: 01/14/2011 05:33:54 PM MST
Updated: 01/14/2011 06:11:02 PM MST

The grandparents of a 2-year-old Aurora boy who died Jan. 6 after allegedly being thrown across the room by his mother's boyfriend are thanking Southwest Airlines for holding a plane so the boy's grandfather could hurry home to see his grandson before the boy died.

Nancy Dickinson told travel and airline blogger Christopher Elliott, that her husband Mark Dickinson was on a business trip in California when the couple received word that their grandson, Caden Rogers, had suffered devastating injuries.

Aurora Police said the boy hit his head on a bed after his mother's boyfriend, Theodore Madrid,30, threw him across the room.

Dickinson told Elliott that her husband had to fly from Los Angeles to Tucson, Ariz. before returning to Denver, and that he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport two hours early only to be caught in a long security line.

"Every step of the way, he's on the verge of tears and trying to get assistance from both TSA and Southwest employees to get to his plane on time," Nancy Dickinson said. "According to him, everyone he talked to couldn't have cared less."

Dickinson called Southwest to explain the situation, and said her husband ran to the gate in his stocking feet to find the plane's captain waiting for him at the jetway. She said the pilot said he was sorry about their grandson and wouldn't let the 11:50 flight depart until Mark Dickinson ultimately arrived at 12:02.

"They can't go anywhere without me, and I'm not going anywhere without you," she said the pilot told her husband.

Marilee McInnis, a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines said Friday the company is proud of the pilot, but have not released his name pending his approval.

"We empower our employees to make decisions on behalf of our customers," McInnis said. "While we can't wait for every late customer we knew he had an extreme family emergency and the pilot specifically decided to wait."

Caden Rogers died the next day, Aurora Police said.

Kyle Glazier303-954-1638 or kglazier@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17098931

Video at the source link.
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Pilot's Unusual Move: Delays Takeoff for Dying 2-Year-Old's Grandfather
Southwest Pilot Hailed for Allowing Passenger to Reach His Grandson's Bedside

48 comments By CLAYTON SANDELL
DENVER, Jan. 13, 2011

A desperate Arizona man faced with a horrible family tragedy is praising a Southwest Airlines pilot today for displaying an act of human kindness some say is rare in the airline industry: he delayed a takeoff so the man could reach the bedside of his dying 2-year old grandson.

Mark Dickinson was in Los Angeles on a business trip last week when he learned that his grandson Caden Rodgers was lying in a Denver hospital, brain dead and about to be taken off life support.

A few days earlier the boy had suffered terrible head injuries, allegedly at the hands of Theodore Madrid, the boyfriend of Dickinson's daughter Ashley Rogers. Madrid, now charged with first degree murder, was watching the boy while Rogers was at work when Caden was injured.

Dickinson arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to find a long, slow-moving security line. He says airport workers weren't buying his story about Caden and refused to let him jump to the front of the line.

"I thought, 'Oh my God, I'm not going to make my flight.' I didn't know when I was going to get the next one. I resigned myself to the fact that it was my fault," said Dickinson.

He called his wife Nancy back home in Palominas, Ariz., for help. She called Southwest Airlines customer service to plead Mark's case and beg them to hold the plane until Mark could get there.

By the time he got through the security checkpoint, his departure time had already passed. He grabbed his belongings and made a mad dash for the gate, convinced he'd never make his connecting flight in Tucson.

"I was running in my socks through the terminal," said Dickinson, an engineer for Northrop Grumman.

When he got to the gate, Dickinson was shocked to find the plane was still there, the door to the jetway still open.

"I looked over by the jetway and there was the pilot," Dickinson said. "He said, 'Are you Mark?' I said, 'Yeah' and he said, "Well, we're holding the flight for you."

Southwest spokesperson Marilee McInnis said the airline has identified the pilot but according to policy is holding off releasing his name to reporters until he gives permission. He is flying today and could not be immediately reached.

Dickinson thanked the pilot as he rushed aboard, asking for one more brief delay so he could use the lavatory.

"He said, 'no problem. They can't leave without me anyway,'" Dickinson said. "I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe they even knew who I was."

A Southwest spokesman said the pilot is a veteran who is also a member of Southwest's "Corporate Culture Committee."

The pilot held the packed flight for 12 minutes at LAX, which ABC News aviation consultant John Nance calls "an eternity."

"In this day and time, when airlines think they're going to get your dollar by claiming they're number one in on-time departures, that was a very brave thing for the pilot to do," said Nance.

Nance said the gesture is especially unusual in an age of more airline fees, diminished service and customer complaints. The difference, Nance says, is that the corporate culture at Southwest allows employees more freedom to make snap decisions without fear of being suspended or fired.

"What Southwest has prided themselves on is encouraging their employees and well as their senior people to go out of their way to help the public and reward them," said Nance. "And that's what it takes."

Dickinson made it to Denver in time to comfort his daughter before Caden was removed from life support. The boy's organs were donated and he was buried Wednesday.

Nancy Dickinson, a travel writer, was so moved by the Southwest pilot's actions that she shared her husband's story with fellow journalist Christopher Elliott, who originally published it on his website.

"Pilots rarely hold the plane, because they have a schedule to keep. This was highly unusual," Elliott said in an e-mail to ABC News.

Dickinson says he never got the pilot's name and couldn't find him after the flight to thank him properly, and now just wants to shake his hand.

"I can't tell him how grateful I am that he did that for me," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com

Nice story. So sorry about the little boy. I wish women would stop putting these losers in their home with their childred. This happens too often. Moms live-in boyfriend kills kid. You know when a guy is a loser , and he aint gonna change for you cause you love him. Kick him to the door.

First heard about this while listening to John and Ken's radio show today. They were talking to a woman, probably was the wife, Nancy. Much of the discussion was about no sympathy or special attention was shown for her husband by TSA employees.