Pilot buys pizza for 159 passengers after flight is diverted

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (FOX 13) - A pilot for American Airlines went above and beyond for stranded passengers.

Captain Jeff Raines treated his passengers to pizza after bad weather left them stranded in Wichita Falls, Texas on Friday. Flight 2354 from Los Angeles to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport was rerouted there after thunderstorms hit the area.

There were 159 people who had to stay the night. So, Raines ordered 40 boxes of Papa John’s pizza, and game them out to passengers as they waited at the airport curb.

“Thanks for the compliments however this was a ‘TEAM’ effort,” Raines said in a statement on Facebook, FOX6 reports. “My First Officer was on the telephone with crew tracking / hotel desk arranging for our release and hotels for the entire crew. The Flight Attendants manned a galley cart from the aircraft serving waters, juice, and sodas to all the passengers in the terminal. All while the Envoy SPS Personnel were arranging for a bus, re-booking flights, and answering a flurry of questions from these passengers. Thanks to everyone for your help – there is no ‘I’ in TEAM.”

American Airlines issued the following statement to FOX News:

“All of us are always proud of our crew members who take great care of our customers who fly on American Airlines. We are fortunate that our crew members are the best in the business."