Attendant showed perfect kindness

The plane was late arriving.
And passengers were starting to get grouchy.
That was understandable. The flight was just a puddle-jumper, one of those little commuter flights that connects Point A to Point B when most of the passengers are flying on to Points C through Z.
A delay on the first leg of a holiday weekend journey could turn the trip into a nightmare.
But the crew acted quickly to turn things around, and within a few minutes after arrival, the plane was ready to take off to Point B.
That helped improve the mood of the passengers.
The flight attendant helped even more.
A kind of pudgy guy with glasses, he made this trip dozens of times a week, yet he still managed to stay upbeat.
And he was funny, turning the routine patter required for airline safety into an amusing, self-deprecating spiel worthy of open mic night at a comedy club.
As he walked down the aisle, counting passengers, he stopped whenever he encountered a child.
“How old are you?” he would ask.
“Seven,” might be the answer. Or “10” or “5.”
No matter, his response was always the same: “Holy cow! Really! Now, are you driving yet? Do you have your license? How about college? Are in you college already?”
And soon the kids were giggling and the adults around them were smiling, no longer worried quite so much about making the next flight connection.
It didn’t matter that two rows later, encountering another kid, the flight attendant would launch into the same routine. It still worked. The kids still giggled, and the adults still smiled.
But there was one adult who wasn’t smiling at all.
Two rows ahead of us, an older woman was miserable. Her hands gripped the armrests firmly. She looked out the window nervously. She was clearly fretting.
The flight attendant spotted her right away, and as soon as the safety routine was taken care of and the flight had taken off, he made the older woman his focus.
Whenever he passed by, he stopped and chatted.
She hated flying, she told him. And this was just the first flight of the holiday weekend. Another flight was to follow, and she was filled with dread.
It didn’t help at all that the weather was rocky and turbulence tossed the plane about now and then.
The flight attendant offered reassurances, mixed with a bit of silliness, then changed the subject.
So where are you having Thanksgiving? he asked. Turkey or ham? Or both? Oh, your son’s house, that’s nice. Have any grandchildren?
Distracted by the conversation, the older woman settled down. Then the flight attendant returned to his other duties for a bit, returning just when the anxiety had begun to return to this frightened passenger.
She’d started fussing about the next flight, a longer one, getting wound up well in advance.
Oh that will be fine, he assured her. You’ll be able to watch a movie on one of those little TV sets on the back of the seat in front of you, he said. And you could have a drink, maybe a glass of wine. Would you like that?
Distracted again, she began to focus on relaxing rather than fretting.
But the fretting began in earnest when the flight started its descent.
The turbulence had returned with a vengeance, tossing the little plane around the sky as it tried to make its way to Point B.
That’s when the flight attendant forgot about the rest of us.
He knelt down on one knee in the aisle and put his hand on the hand of the older woman. And he kept talking and talking and kidding and asking questions, all in a calm, jocular voice that could not have been more reassuring.
The seat belt sign had been on the entire flight, but now the pilot was urging everyone to prepare for landing.
And still, the flight attendant stayed at his post, on bent knee in the aisle at the side of a frightened passenger trying to go home for the holiday.
And that’s where he stayed, all the way through a rocky descent, all the way to landing.
Chances are, that was in violation of airline policy. Chances are, the Federal Aviation Administration wouldn’t have approved.
But for all who witnessed it, that moment of kindness was the perfect way to begin the holiday season, giving us all one more thing to be thankful for.[[In-content Ad]]