TODAYSHOW.COM - It was only a matter of minutes, but Kerry Drake will forever be grateful for the precious sliver of time.
On
Jan. 24, the San Francisco man booked the first possible flight to
Lubbock, Texas, via a connection in Houston after his brother informed
him that their mother Dolores was dying and might not make it another 24
hours. However, his United Airlines flight to Houston experienced a
30-minute delay coming out of San Francisco, leaving him distraught that
he might not be able to be with his mother in her final hours.
As
he sat on the plane trying to deal with his emotions, flight attendant
Sofia Linares brought him napkins to dab his tears while fellow flight
attendant Lan Chung relayed his flight number to the captain. When the
plane landed in Houston, it appeared as if Drake would miss his
connection, which was the last plane to Lubbock for the day. He needed
to take an air train to another terminal just to reach the gate for his
connection and figured it would be too late.
But when he arrived, he received an unexpected gift.
"What
I felt was just an amazing relief when I turned the corner and the gate
agent called my name out and said they had been expecting me,'' Drake
told TODAY.com. "It was the first time I realized that they had all
conspired to make sure I was going to get there.''
Drake found
out that United employees had held the flight from Houston to Lubbock
for him, "only 15 or 20 minutes, if that,'' he said.
He made it to his mother's bedside at a Lubbock hospital in time to
be with her during her last hours, and was sitting with his father in
the middle of the night when they witnessed her final moments of
coherence before her death. Dolores Drake died at age 76 in the early
morning hours of Jan. 25, after having suffered from rheumatoid
arthritis for much of her life and being worn down by the drugs used to
treat her condition.
"(United) went above and beyond,'' Drake
said. "It was a matter of minutes, but it made all the difference in the
world. That really blew me away.''
His luggage also managed to
make it on the connecting flight, and he said he heard no complaints of
any kind from the passengers waiting on board. The airline did not
receive any formal complaints from other passengers regarding the short
delay, United spokesperson Megan McCarthy told TODAY.com.
"I've
heard anecdotally of this happening before, but it's rare,'' McCarthy
said of the flight being held for special circumstances. "Many of our
employees, if they can help a customer, will go above and beyond if
there's a way that they can make it happen. It's not always the case
that we can do something like this because of other considerations, but
it looks to me like all these employees worked together to make it
happen.''
Drake followed up his experience with a complimentary
letter to United on Feb. 24, thanking the airline and staff, including
pilot Edward Goldstein and first officer Dirk Chilian, for their
kindness in a difficult situation. The letter appeared in the company's
employee newsletter with his name removed
"My only motivation was
to recognize the people at United who were so kind,'' he said. "It was a
greatly unusual and appreciated thing.''
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