Nice Lady Looks After Young Lad

July 26, 2010

in Airplane Stories

I was 13 when I met a passenger who took care of me and treated me like a son. Before I tell my story, I must explain the background situation. I was on a flight from Beijing to San Francisco when engine #1 was on fire. Apparently a passenger discovered this and notified the captain. The captain didn’t know about this problem since there was nothing wrong with the instruments (he later announced this to the passengers). We had no choice but to divert back to Beijing and stay overnight while the aircraft got repaired.

The next morning, we returned to re-check in for our flight at 7am when we discovered that the check-in desks weren’t open. After 30 minutes of discussion with other passengers, we were notified that our flight (United 888) was renumbered to United 888A since another flight was flying out of Beijing numbered United 888. After going through security one more time, we finally managed to board the plane. Although the plane left Beijing uneventfully, I couldn’t sleep because I kept having thoughts of the engine fire from yesterday and the cramped seats didn’t help either.

After we finally arrived in SFO, we were told that we needed to uncheck and re-check our bags to take the connecting United 888 flight to Los Angeles. After check-in, my dad had to separate from us because we had to do extra screening and he didn’t. I was already tired from not getting any sleep so extra screening made me feel more exhausted. After the extra-screening, I boarded the plane feeling sick.

The flight was full and I was seated away from my parents. The woman who sat next to me noticed that I wasn’t looking and was kind enough to ask me if I was OK. I lied to her that I was fine and she continued to read her book. When we began to push back, she removed a tin of candy from her bag and gave herself a piece before offering me one. She told me that it would help my ears from the air pressure and it would make me feel a little better. I politely refused her offer and she told me to call her if I don’t feel comfortable.

After take-off, I couldn’t hold it back and I vomited in my air sickness bag. When the woman who sat next to me saw this, she reached into her bag and handed me some tissues and told me I should clean myself. Then, she pressed the call button and told the flight attendant to get me a cup of water. After I dealt with my mess I thanked her and told her about my flight story from Beijing (the one I mentioned above). She handed over her air sickness bag and told me to use it if necessary.

For the remaining thirty minutes of the flight I managed to get some shut eye and felt a lot better when we arrived in LAX. Before we left the plane, my father and I thanked her for taking care of me. She hoped for the best of me and left the plane.

{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

Laura July 26, 2010 at 8:00 pm

What a nice story! Good to know not all passengers are selfish jerks like the rest of the stories imply. I'm doing a big transpacific tomorrow from Fukuoka to JFK, hope I have better luck than this story…

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Dina July 27, 2010 at 12:55 pm

Airsickness is the worst. 🙁 But at least a kind soul was there to help you out! (Nothing's more miserable than being ignored and treated like crap by flight attendants when you're in that state… ask me how I know!)

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Peace Lover July 27, 2010 at 11:17 pm

She was probably a child molester or pervert. That has happened to me so many times. You'd think that I would learn after all these years, but it really isn't all that bad.

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rerere July 28, 2010 at 5:05 am

Alright, I don't get you. You are all gushy toward the idiots in these other stupid stories, but when a nice, sweet one like this comes around, you are all negative. Peace Lover dosn't match your personality.

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Peace Lover July 28, 2010 at 6:55 am

That is an imposter. It seems some people never learn. Honestly why bother wasting your time impersonating me? If this impersonator is not careful he or she will end up getting banned from leaving a comment.

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rerere July 28, 2010 at 12:18 pm

Sorry, I thought you're the above comment.

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david July 28, 2010 at 4:32 pm

i dont think the mod. can do that, only remove comments when its obvious that someone is portraying to be someone else

its not the first time someone has done that and prob wont be the last, the same person has tried to pretend to be me and hugh

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Gregg - admin July 28, 2010 at 4:49 pm

The imposter has been flagged for moderation.

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david July 29, 2010 at 1:08 am

awesome =)

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rerere July 29, 2010 at 3:57 am

Nice!

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Peace Lover July 29, 2010 at 10:09 am

Thank you Gregg I appreciate your help. And thanks for your apology rerere. By the way does anyone know whats happened to dinners from hell?

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Gregg - admin July 29, 2010 at 2:53 pm

Unfortunately a problem occurred while the site was being moved to another server, and I haven't been able to restore the database. Hopefully I'll eventually be able to figure it out.

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Hugh July 29, 2010 at 11:30 pm

After hearing so many stories of inconsiderate or rude people, and my experience with people in general, its nice to hear a story about a good person…I need this every once in a while to restore my faith in humanity.

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The Teenaged Tourist July 30, 2010 at 5:34 pm

Hi Gregg! Thanks for posting my story! I was wondering whether it went into the rejection pile since I submitted it ages ago. Thank you for putting up so much effort into running and controlling this site and I am sure all the other members are also grateful for your work!

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