Is Columbia's Mayor Benjamin the best travel buddy ever? These hungry folks think so
Getting stuck on a long plane delay stinks.
Getting free dinner delivered to you on the plane makes it better.
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin treated his fellow American Airlines plane passengers to dinner Tuesday night in the midst of an hourslong delay.
The Washington, D.C.-bound plane and its two dozen passengers had to sit for more than two hours on a Columbia runway because of weather conditions in the nation's capital.
"It was a perfect opportunity for people to be really grumpy, and people weren't," Benjamin said.
Realizing he would be missing a dinner meeting in D.C. and others would be missing connecting flights, Benjamin called up a friend in the airport and ordered food from the airport restaurants — burgers, chicken fingers, salads, fries — and had it delivered onto the plane.
"I'm a big believer that if you share a meal with folks and have a chance to talk, it's amazing how we realize the things we have in common. There's power in sharing a meal," Benjamin said. "It just felt like the right thing to do, and we had a really good time."
Benjamin said the delay gave him the chance to get to know a few business people, government workers, a youth basketball coach and a young lawyer who had just been sworn into the South Carolina bar earlier that day.
University of South Carolina President Harris Pastides also was on the plane.
"We've never met, and this act of kindness has made this bad situation a whole lot nicer," passenger Tim Race said in a tweet thanking Benjamin for the dinner.
The passengers finally deplaned in Washington four hours after their scheduled arrival Tuesday night.
"One thing we can't control is the weather," said Ross Feinstein, an American Airlines spokesman. "All of us at American, along with PSA Airlines, which operated flight 5641 to Washington, D.C., appreciated the patience of our customers during the weather delay. And special thanks to Mayor Benjamin for the hospitality he extended to our customers and crew."
Benjamin recently became president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, representing the leaders of some of the country's largest cities as an influential voice in national discussions on issues like infrastructure and government spending.
Benjamin was headed to Washington to speak to the board of the Institute for Museum and Library Services, who invited him. He'll be back in Columbia later Thursday.
This story was originally published May 24, 2018 at 10:36 AM with the headline "Is Columbia's Mayor Benjamin the best travel buddy ever? These hungry folks think so."