A Frontier Airlines pilot ordered pizza for an entire plane full of passengers after a delayed flight had them stuck on a tarmac in Wyoming for more than two hours this week.
Pilot Gerhard Brandner was forced to land Airbus A320 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Monday evening when his trip from Washington, D.C., to Denver was diverted because of heavy
thunderstorms in central Colorado, KUSA-TV reported.
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With no food on board and a two hour-plus wait, Brandner finally decided to call a local Domino's and place an order to feed all 160 passengers. What's more, he paid for all 35 pizzas out of his own pocket.
"If the need arises you need to take care of your family; you need to take care of your passengers," the pilot said, according to the television station. "They are my responsibility the moment they step on the aircraft until they get off the aircraft."
Andrew Ritchie, manager of the
Domino's Pizza in Cheyenne, told The Associated Press that he got the call about 10 p.m. Monday just as he was preparing to let his employees go for the night.
"I put my hand over the phone and I said: 'Guys, you're coming back,'" Ritchie said.
The manager said his crew cranked out the order in about 30 minutes and sent them to the airport, where the driver turned the pizzas over to the flight attendants.
KUSA-TV said the entire plane applauded when Brandner announced on the loud speaker that pizza was on the way. But the captain never saw his passengers chow down on the pizza pies because he had to reprogram the aircraft's computers for a trip from Cheyenne to Denver, according to the television station.
"Ordering one pizza for every row of starving travelers, a Frontier Airlines spokesperson wasn't 'sure if he (the captain) was hungry,' but chances are he
didn't need to eat on arrival," AustralianBusinessTraveller.com reported. "Despite a diverted flight and passengers stuck on the ground, the captain is being hailed as a 'champion' by those on board."
The plane managed to leave Cheyenne by about 10:30 p.m. for the short, 15-minute flight to Denver.
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