A plane passenger's video of a flight attendant offering a compassionate hug has gone viral
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The flight attendant tells PEOPLE that the woman told him "her father is dying, and if she misses her Beijing flight, she'll miss him."
Seattle Seahawks radio host Gee Scott Sr. was on his way to the Super Bowl when he captured the fateful moment and shared it on social media
It was an "emergency flight" from Chicago to San Francisco for the Seattle Seahawks' game day radio host Gee Scott Sr. In order to support his team at the Super Bowl, Scott needed to board his early morning United Airlines flight for the Golden City on Feb. 8.
Scott tells PEOPLE he was seated "way in the back" in a "cramped" coach seat, waiting for the flight to depart. Initially he was by himself, but eventually a female passenger sat next to him.
"This lady was crying," he tells PEOPLE. Although she was speaking in a language foreign to him, he could tell she was upset.
"I kind of wonder if she's getting ready to go see a loved one, like a loved one passed away," Scott remembers thinking. "I can just kind of feel that vibe even though I didn't understand what she was saying."
Courtesy of Gee Scott Sr.
Scott says after that he went about his own business and wasn't paying attention, until one of the flight attendants arrived with the beverage cart."All of a sudden, she starts crying again and she's asking — in English — 'Hey, what about my flight,' and 'I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get my connecting flight,' " Scott says.
Next, he remembers the flight attendant taking a moment to stop and comfort the passenger.
"It was the way he knelt down," Scott says. "I pulled out my phone and I just started recording… Then when he was done, he's like, 'Hey, give me a hug.' "
"He goes to hug her and I'm telling you, it changed her," he adds. "They embraced and he got up and he finished along with his job. She looked at me, and she started to smile, and we gave each other a high five."
It was a sweet moment Scott was excited to share with his followers on social media.
Courtesy of Gee Scott Jr.
"I posted onInstagramand posted it onX… less than five minutes later, it was at 6,000 views," Scott says. "It just went crazy."
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Even before Scott got off the plane, another flight attendant approached him and let him know his video was going viral.
Eric Cato, a Chicago-based flight attendant of five years, tells PEOPLE the morning started off with a "typical delay." He was able to tell early on that the 45 minute hold up was going to cause issues for the hundreds of passengers with connections on the flight.
Courtesy of Eric Cato
Cato says he typically reviews options with his passengers including upcoming alternative flights and other accommodation options. And that's what he wanted to offer to the woman on the plane. However, he checked the flight status and learned the plane was only going to be 11 minutes late as they were able to make up time in the air."When I told her that, she just started crying," Cato remembers. "She was telling me that her father is dying, and if she misses her Beijing flight, she'll miss him."
Cato says he immediately tried to empathize with her: "I can't imagine how it is to lose a parent, but I know how it is to be away from your family and a loved one is sick, is dying, because that's happened to me before. So I was able to put myself into her shoes."
In the end, Cato says the passenger was able to make it to her next gate and the plane landed only four minutes past its scheduled arrival.
While Cato says he's given hugs to passengers before, this one "hit a little different."
"I just knew that she was so far from home and flying all the way back to where she was from. Just to see your father, to see your dad, who's sick, who's passing away, that was tough," he says. "It was a beautiful moment, but also a very sad moment as well."
Courtesy of Eric Cato
The virality of the moment gave Cato the opportunity to reflect on his career as a flight attendant and fully realize the impact he's had on his customers."My cousin yesterday, she reached out, and what she said was very spot on. She told me, 'You reveal your true self when no one is watching or when you're unaware that someone is observing. My cousin just demonstrated who he was to his core, a personification of kindness and compassion.' "
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He adds: "You never know what anyone is going through. It's okay to pause whatever you're doing to just sit there and listen… This is who I am, I'm going to stop whatever I'm doing to listen to you and help you find a solution."
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