March 2023 Employee of the Month: Airline crew chief gets planes and cars off the ground

After a long day of making sure flights are ready for takeoff at Miami International Airport, American Airlines Crew Chief Raul Acosta ran into a different kind of departure that was having trouble getting off the ground.

Acosta was about to exit MIA’s parking garage and head home at around 7 p.m. when he noticed two people trying to fix a flat tire. Those two people were Miami-Dade County Commissioner René Garcia and Lauren Pardo, Commissioner Garcia’s Director of External Affairs, who had just flown back from a trip to Tallahassee. Pardo got back to her car and found the flat tire, and Commissioner Garcia had just started trying to remove the tire while they waited for an airport agent to arrive and provide more assistance.

Acosta saw Commissioner Garcia working on the car and decided to pull over and lend a hand. His skills as a crew chief kicked in and he offered to take over the job. He was able to patch the tire, fill it with air, and put it back on the car.

“I cannot begin to express how grateful we are,” said Pardo.  “He did it out of the kindness of his heart when he didn’t have to help us at all. His kindness did not go unnoticed. He’s an amazing person and deserves to be properly thanked.”

Because Acosta went the extra mile to show kindness and compassion at MIA, he was named the airport’s March 2023 Employee of the Month.