When I moved to Austin more than a decade ago, I had never really given the idea of breakfast tacos much though. But in Austin they’re a point of local pride, and truly ubiquitous. Drawing on the Tex-Mex tradition, they’re a mainstay.
Nearly everywhere you go here there’s a signature spin on the classic, from brisket to just bacon, egg and cheese classics. They’re affordable and easy to eat on the go, usually coming in foil. You’ll find them in restaurants, food trucks, and taquerias, and everyone debates whose is best.
Maybe that’s why I have a special affection for this American Airlines pilot. This past week was challenging for American Airlines, as weather in North Texas foiled operations at its largest hub and there were further challenges at its second biggest hub in Charlotte.
Sometimes a pilot will make news going above and beyond ordering pizza to a stranded aircraft. This American Airlines captain trumped that even – and ordered breakfast tacos for everyone!
Shoutout to Captain Andrew Dezell on my @AmericanAir flight who went above and beyond to grab us breakfast tacos after weather conditions in DFW kept catering from getting on board. That extra effort really made our day! ✈️ #AboveAndBeyond #GratefulPassenger #DFWTX pic.twitter.com/HIrBVWYWHA
— Yaz (@Yazzzch) January 11, 2025
After an emergency landing, a United Airlines pilot ordered 30 pizzas to the terminal since food wasn’t available there for passengers.
Credit: @ladyt98tanya
Here’s an American Airlines captain who threw a pizza party on the plane and another who ordered 40 Papa Johns pizzas after a flight diversion, but said “I’m no hero.” Of course he wasn’t – Papa Johns > Domino’s, but they weren’t breakfast tacos!
Best part of today’s flight @AmericanAir the captain of the flight is so magnanimous that he ordered us all pizzas as we have been stuck on the flight @fly_BUR for over 6 hours and we never departed because of some complicated routing issues 🙂 pic.twitter.com/VQY2AW90l6
— Harsha wears a mask 😷 (@ShellZero) October 13, 2022
Another American Airlines pilot catered an entire flight with pizza hut pizzas from inside the airport.
About 13 years ago I catered an American Airlines Boeing 757 from inside the Seattle airport. It was a charter flight (“oneworld MegaDO”) and our aircraft went mechanical. All of the catering had been offloaded to make room for more alcohol (and because the original plan had been for everyone on the flight to get full business class meals, which took took long). There were packaged snacks for everyone at the at the gate, but with the delay and drinks on the ground we needed food.
We drank the plane dry during the delay and we raided the nearby aircraft. A tug was sent to the edge of the airport to go get more. I went into the terminal in search of food. First class got personal pizzas while I bribed the bagel shop to give us all their sandwiches (which meant they’d need to stay late to prep for the next day).
The perfect accompaniment to pizza is beer, right? One American Airlines captain comped drinks for the whole flight during a delay.
Pilots can actually get reimbursed by the carrier when they order food for passengers. This isn’t something they ask permission for, and they do sometimes just come out of pocket without filing for an expense reimbursement. You may find the expense reimbursement procedures at your company too cumbersome to bother with too, sometimes!