An air traffic controller at LaGuardia was being a jerk, and a Delta pilot called him out for it… kudos to him, I think!
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Rude LaGuardia controller gets called out, doesn’t like it
VASAviation has the scoop on what happened at New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) at around 5PM on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. There was a ground stop at the airport due to thunderstorms. LaGuardia can be an operational mess under the best of circumstances, let alone when operations are interrupted.
During this ground stop, there were a lot of planes on taxiways waiting for their turn. Of course the bad weather is no one’s fault, and air traffic controllers don’t have a crystal ball.
However, understandably pilots want to get a sense of where they are in the sequence, given all the operational considerations (including fuel). After all, no passengers want to be stuck on a plane on a taxiway for hours, only to be told by the pilots that there’s no longer enough fuel, and they need to return to the gate.
So on Wednesday evening, the way the air traffic controller (or in this case, ground controller) communicated with pilots left a lot to be desired, as he took a staunch “not my problem” attitude.
First the pilot of United flight UA2005 bound for Chicago (ORD) asked what kind of a delay could be expected, and the air traffic controller responded with “yeah, from now till midnight you’ll get out of here.” The pilot responded with “yeah, well, we got some fuel concerns,” to which the controller snapped back “roger, fuel management is your priority, not mine.”
Next, the pilot of Delta flight DL999 bound for Detroit (DTW) asked what the plane’s sequence was, and then quite the interaction unfolded:
Air traffic controller: “From now till midnight.”
Delta pilot: “That’s not a good answer, but thanks for…”
Air traffic controller: “That’s the best I can do, if you want a better answer, contact your dispatch or your company.”
Delta pilot: “No, your line up here is, I’m just looking for a sequence for fuel management, and yes, that’s part of your problem.”
Air traffic controller: “Yes, sir, fuel management is your priority, not mine.”
Delta pilot: “You’re an idiot.”
Air traffic controller: “I got a number for you whenever you’re ready.”
Delta pilot: “Oh, I want it! We wanna talk.”
Air traffic controller: “Delta 999, I got a phone number whenever you’re ready.”
Delta pilot: “Pass it along.”
Air traffic controller: “347-846-XXXX.”
Delta pilot: “Yeah, I want to talk to your manager.”
Air traffic controller: “Yes sir, manager is up here, he’s looking forward to the call.”
The Delta jet ended up staying in its position for around an hour, and then returned to the gate. The flight ended up departing around six hours behind schedule.
The controller’s unprofessionalism is astounding
Air traffic controllers have stressful jobs, and a vast majority of them try their best, and don’t have an attitude. But then you have a small minority of controllers who seemingly make it their mission to find any way to exert power and put pilots in their place.
This controller is the perfect example of that. His canned answer to every question was basically “you’ll depart in the next seven hours.” That is the definition of unhelpful. One would hope the controller could provide a bit more clarity on the sequence, but even if he couldn’t, there’s a polite way to say things.
How about instead just saying “I wish I had an answer, but your guess is as good as mine,” or something? But his answer was intentionally incendiary, and just intended as a middle finger to pilots.
Now, it wasn’t professional for the Delta pilot to call him an idiot. But I do kind of respect how he challenges the controller, and I love his enthusiasm for getting a number to call (which is usually something that pilots dread).
Bottom line
A New York LaGuardia air traffic controller with an attitude got a taste of his own medicine, when a pilot called him an idiot, after he was intentionally unhelpful. The conversation escalated, with the controller giving the pilot a number to call, and the pilot enthusiastically taking that down.
While neither party exactly showed professionalism, I definitely side with the Delta pilot, for his premium comeback and enthusiasm… 😉
What do you make of this LGA ATC interaction?
@Lucky - you are wrong on this one.
100% ATC was being a jerk.
1000000% the DL pilot was 100000000% wrong.
You just don't do that. Deescalate. You file a complaint later. They have the tapes.
DL pilot went too far calling hm an idiot.
ATC's job IS TO provide some sense of how quickly aircraft will move.
Calling anyone an idiot doesn't make it any better but given that multiple pilots were asking the same thing and there was not a satisfactory answer to anyone, then it is reasonable to escalate in some way.
and filing a complaint doesn't get an answer for those pilots that need to know whether they need to go back to the gate...
ATC's job IS TO provide some sense of how quickly aircraft will move.
Calling anyone an idiot doesn't make it any better but given that multiple pilots were asking the same thing and there was not a satisfactory answer to anyone, then it is reasonable to escalate in some way.
and filing a complaint doesn't get an answer for those pilots that need to know whether they need to go back to the gate and potentially see their flight cancelled.
Even if ATC couldn't have given a complete answer to anyone, they should have been able to say "we are currently getting departures out at the rate of one flight every five minutes and you are number X on the list"
"Don't try to describe the ocean if you've never seen it."
UA2005 - Captain, this is a ground stop. I have no idea how long it will be, and I have no idea of your fuel situation. Check with your boss.
or
Captain, I'm sorry I'm a little busy right now. While you are just sitting there, why don't you have your company check with the NWS for the weather forecast for...
"Don't try to describe the ocean if you've never seen it."
UA2005 - Captain, this is a ground stop. I have no idea how long it will be, and I have no idea of your fuel situation. Check with your boss.
or
Captain, I'm sorry I'm a little busy right now. While you are just sitting there, why don't you have your company check with the NWS for the weather forecast for ORD, if you don't already have it. Right now our best guess is seven hours or until mid-night. If you know how much fuel you have and how much you are burning while idling for seven hours, you should be able to determine when you will have to refuel. Give me a call when you decide to return to the gate and I will be happy to make sure you get there safely.
"Delta 999 you're number ten"
What ethnic background was the air traffic controller?
Klingon, not that it’s relevant to this discussion.
In my thousand plus hours of private pilot flying only had one controller ever be rude. In marginal VFR he denied my request for a flight following. I can understand that things get busy, but it would’ve been helpful and what wasn’t helpful was entirely rude attitude Later that evening I spoke to The controller supervisor and he apologized. Mostly those guys are 100% courteous, professional, and helpful.Meakin
Controller myself at an enroute facility. I'm gonna guess the LGA ground controller was stressed out. Pilots don't understand what we are facing on our side of the mic. They may here not much on the radios - but in the cab, tracon, or center, there quite likely is chaos occuring. Sometimes we snap and it comes over the radio that way.
On the flip side - yeah, there are some controllers who are...
Controller myself at an enroute facility. I'm gonna guess the LGA ground controller was stressed out. Pilots don't understand what we are facing on our side of the mic. They may here not much on the radios - but in the cab, tracon, or center, there quite likely is chaos occuring. Sometimes we snap and it comes over the radio that way.
On the flip side - yeah, there are some controllers who are just condescending a-holes all the time. I work with one of them. I try and cancel that controller's attitude out by being as professional and friendly with pilots. I snap only when necessary (example of a pilot not listening up when the freq is obviously busy, or deviating on their own without asking me first (they are IFR and could be turning right into traffic I'm working near them that they aren't aware of), etc).
the FAA has not had a great week at hearings regarding the DC accident earlier this year (hard to call it an accident when the FAA and airlines knew for years that there were multiple holes that would eventually line up to allow a disaster).
the simple reason why you don't here of incidents like this is because American culture, unlike in other developed countries, allows people to demonstrate their feelings.
and the sad reality...
the FAA has not had a great week at hearings regarding the DC accident earlier this year (hard to call it an accident when the FAA and airlines knew for years that there were multiple holes that would eventually line up to allow a disaster).
the simple reason why you don't here of incidents like this is because American culture, unlike in other developed countries, allows people to demonstrate their feelings.
and the sad reality is that there are nowhere near enough trained controllers who want to work in NYC to replace people like this even if there was a mechanism to send them to a back office in Oklahoma City for the rest of their careers.
it was a brutally hot July. thank goodness it is normal or lower temps; it is 68 degrees F in NYC this morning with pleasant weather forecast.
Everyone needs a couple weeks of normal airline operations
"American culture, unlike in other developed countries, allows people to demonstrate their feelings" - You must be kidding.
Yeah Tim, Poms and Aussies never speak their minds.
What a load of BS
We show feelings in Europe and it’s 40c in Madrid and Seville.
do you allow people in their jobs to trash other people including in a position like ATC? THAT Is the question and not that Europeans or Aussies are incapable of showing emotion.
Typical bridge and tunnel NYC native. When he graduated from his awful public high school his choices where the sanitation dept or air traffic controller.
And he is the lowest of the low in terms of air traffic controller. He is a ground controller.
I can't think of a better place for AI than in the control tower.
I disagree with your assessment.
Controllers typically don't like the question "where am I in line", even in the best of days.
The controller had no idea when that Delta plane would leave. The thunderstorms that day were not predicted, which is why these planes didn't have enough fuel.
The airspace around NYC comes to a grinding halt when convection occurs and significantly disrupts operations for the rest of the day.
...I disagree with your assessment.
Controllers typically don't like the question "where am I in line", even in the best of days.
The controller had no idea when that Delta plane would leave. The thunderstorms that day were not predicted, which is why these planes didn't have enough fuel.
The airspace around NYC comes to a grinding halt when convection occurs and significantly disrupts operations for the rest of the day.
The SWAP that day shut down all routes for a period of time.
Unacceptable for the pilot to call the controller an idiot because he didn't like the answer of the controller.
That plane wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and the controller and pilot knew it. No reason to get sassy.
The New York Airports are dysfunctional, corrupted, inefficient and unsafe. It is a failure of government regulation and planning on the most basic level.
Are ATC more obnoxious these days?
Or have they always been this obnoxious and there’s just YouTube and other media tracking/ publishing it these days?
Yet another American ATC incident. When was the last time anyone reported similar events anywhere else ? ( crickets chirping)
America is becoming an angry, angry nation.
Maybe US ATC tend to have an attitude.
Or maybe it’s because there are so much more ATC in the US (14k) than in any other country (e.g 2.2k in Germany)?
Or maybe you do not hear from other countries because they do not allow to broadcast ATC communication?
NYC ATC
@Klaus_S: What kind of nonsense is that? There's more ATC outside the US than in the US (even if we exclude those places where publishing ATC recordings is not legal), so the majority of incident should statically be from elsewhere in the EU.
*elsewhere in the world :)
ATC Europe about 37000 daily. There is an entire world beyond the USA. Ryanair has over 3500 flights daily. You do realise there are very few international flights over the USA with the exception of those from eg Canada to Mexico versus Europe.
Germany - all the time.