Chick-Fil-A earned a legion of new fans Sunday when the iconic restaurant chose to open its doors to passengers stranded at Atlanta’s busiest airport. A weekend fire in a service tunnel led to over 1,400 flights being canceled.
Chick-Fil-A is unusual among fast food chains. Its devout owners make it a point of being closed on Sundays, believing that one day a week should be devoted to rest and prayer. The people trapped at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, therefore, were shocked when the restaurant began serving food yesterday.
City mayor Kasim Reed praised the decision.
Update: Power has been restored to Concourses A, B, F, T and the @ATLairport atrium. We have provided 2,000 meals so far. Special thank you to Dan Cathy and @ChickfilA for their support. #atlairport
— Kasim Reed (@KasimReed) December 18, 2017
“The mayor called about 10 p.m. and asked for assistance,” a spokesman for Chick-fil-A confirmed in a statement to Fox News.
“We immediately mobilized staff and team members who live and work near the airport, and they began making sandwiches and delivering them to the EOC (emergency operations center). City and airport officials then distributed more than 5,000 sandwiches to passengers who were stranded due to the power outage.”
The decision is already paying off. Twitter was awash with praise for the company Monday, as users marveled over their quick thinking and customer service. Pictures taken from Hartfield-Jackson show a crowded, stressful scene. Being able to grab some food must have calmed a lot of tension.
Chick-Fil-A is an example of a company that’s willing to stick to its morals. The owners deserve the praise that they’re receiving.
Airport officials say that they are already resuming operations. Flights schedules should return to normal tomorrow.
I propose that Chick-Fil-A and Southwest team up and hold a conference to teach all other companies how to do customer service. They're the only ones who've figured it out.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) December 18, 2017
(Source: Fox News, Daily Caller)