Tri,
My brother, I'm afraid I cannot agree with you here - I have waited - on principle - for complete A HOLES. It is always a disappointing moment ... wait 2 and a half hours and THE guy complains that the exit row is occupied ...
That is life.
But if it is the right thing to do in the abstract ... well ... it is the right thing to do.
Glowing newspaper columns aside. Our company does have a heart and I applaud their attempts to institutionalize that - but heart isn't about institutions, it is about individuals.
I'm not a "people" person. "People" suck. They don't know how to go through security, they can't merge, they consider "relative" seniority is fair without studying the industry ...
But a "person" can be amazing. A person swerves into a light pole to save a pedestrian. A "person" stands at the gate - the port of entry to a fortune 500 company with his job on the line and says - "this is what I do ..." - we wait.
It happens everywhere - the interaction between pilot and traveler - no one "gets" it like we do - but there are very few companies where it is protected.