A word, here and there!

A few years ago, I chanced upon a conversation, between the Port Control of a major port in India and an American ship. The ship was to enter port and was being delayed due to various reasons. Personnel at Indian Port Control's can be obtuse and painful, and the American ships captain was clearly getting peeved. After a point there was a change in the tone of the captain and he refused to be put off until he received absolute confirmation of his docking, from the Port Control. In contrast Indian ship captains allow themselves to be routinely bullied by the Port Control.
Why does this happen? There is a fairly simple cultural explanation. Americans are a more egalitarian society and 'Power Distance' is low. In India PD is high and as we perceive the Port Control to be in a superior position, Indian ship captains are deferential, to the point of accepting a lot of BS!We are simply afraid to speak up!
Look at the following:
Avianca Flight 52 was a regularly scheduled flight from Bogotá to New York, USA. On Thursday, January 25, 1990, the aircraft performing this flight, a Boeing 707, crashed into the village of Cove Neck, Long Island, New York after running out of fuel. Eight of the nine crew members and 65 of the 149 passengers on board were killed. Investigation showed that the crew asked for a "priority" landing which, because of language differences between English and Spanish, can be interpreted as an emergency to Spanish-speaking pilots but not to English-speaking air traffic controllers. This may have caused some confusion amongst the pilots when ATC confirmed their priority status.
It is also a fact that Columbia is a high Power Distance country (See the comparison US to Columbia) and the pilot was deferential to the Air Traffic Control at New York’s, John F Kennedy airport, whose manner was blunt and aggressive. They do not understand high context niceties.
The Columbian captain could have used the words 'Emergency' or 'Mayday' and been assertive with Air Control at JFK. All he had to say was “Chum, I’m out of fuel, the plane is going to crash & I need to land now!”
Many of his passengers would have lived, with those magic few words, but then there is culture, to contend with!
(see link)