airlines: when pilots fight back

well, i'm sitting at sky harbor airport waiting to get on a plane to head to dallas for the day.  the plane is supposed to depart at 6:50am (it's 6:32am as i'm writing this).  about five minutes ago, the pilot of the aircraft just walked to the counter and made an announcement.

he couldn't figure out the public announcement system, so just started shouting.  he gave first an informative update about a weather issue in dallas, and then went on a personal rant about how we were being mistreated because there was no gate agent, etc.  he was pretty harsh on his own airline...and i was surprised...encouraging people to write to the ceo of the airline to tell them how horribly they were being mistreated.

i first appreciated his update (the gate agent arrived mid-rant with the latest information), then was a little disappointed with how he was talking about his company...i felt like he wasn't even giving them a chance.

i've been traveling quite a bit lately and have seen so many unruly passengers treating flight attendants and agents pretty bad.  in my travels i've come to realize, *most* of it isn't the airline fault.  we take air travel for granted.  if there is such a bad weather situation, do we have the right to be so angry at an airline who made a decision in safety to ensure nothing happened?  sure the world isn't perfect, and neither are the airlines...but let us give them a break!

oh, and the pilot?  well, he went behind the counter, continued his rant, shared some explicative banter with his co-pilots...he lost my respect immediately.