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Grateful Alaska Passenger Pays for Refreshments for Entire Plane

On a recent Alaska Airlines service from Dallas to Portland, a simple chat inspired two passengers to express their gratitude in a big way.
They certainly don’t happen every day, but when they do – as one Alaska Airlines crew member recently found out – there’s nothing quite as heart-warming as a random act of kindness.

 

The airline shared a story of how two flyers decided to reward an entire flight based on a simple conversation.

 

A Genuine Gesture of Gratitude

For the crew member – named only in a statement by Alaska Airlines as Sylvia N. – it started with a simple chat with a passenger seated in 1A on a flight from Dallas to Portland. As Sylvia explained, “She wanted to know how it had been flying during the hardships of Covid and how they had all gotten through it. So, I took some time to explain how it impacted us – as flight attendants and me personally – and we had a wonderful conversation.”

 

A short while later, the unnamed passenger explained that she wanted to do something to express her gratitude to Sylvia and her colleagues and offered to pay for food and refreshments for the entire plane. While Sylvia was initially taken aback, she was reassured by the passenger in 1A that the offer was indeed genuine. Speaking of her reaction to the gesture, Sylvia said, “That’s when we all (flight attendants) started to tear up. It was an incredible act of kindness.”

 

Small Notes of Thanks

While the passengers had all already been served food and drinks, the decision was made to offer them individual refunds while charging all refreshments through to the first class passenger, as requested. Another first class guest – who had asked Sylvia for paper – later offered up notes of gratitude from the plane’s passengers to Sylvia and her team. Some of the notes are available to view here.

 

Upon landing in Portland, Sylvia thanked the two passengers for the kindness they had shown to her and the rest of the plane. She added, “To have one guest buy a plane-full of food and drinks for everyone was above and beyond, but then to have the handwritten notes was overwhelming in the best way possible.” Summing up the experience, Cheryl G., a colleague of Sylvia’s, added, “A little kindness truly can change the world.”

7 Comments
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AlwaysFlyStar April 10, 2023

I don't really understand. Did they ask them to make another trip selling food/drink to everybody? Do they carry enough onboard to sell something to everybody? Or did they just offer to pay for the people who already bought something? If so, I would certainly feel left out as a passenger who didn't buy something when the cabin crew starts giving all of the other passengers refunds. Either way, after the cabin crew have done their job and are ready to sit down and take a break, this passenger decides to 'show gratitude' to the cabin crew by making them do more work? 

C
c1ue April 6, 2023

The previous posters are such a bunch of cynical people.
A plane full of happy people makes FA work so much nicer.
It is quintessential American idiocy to equate cash with happiness.

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seattlebruce April 5, 2023

To show my gratitude to the wonderful people who run flyertalk, I just took my girlfriend and my daughter out to dinner. That makes just as much sense. It was delicious.

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babypuwet April 1, 2023

I'm confused.  How does buying food and drinks for the plane show gratitude to the FAs? Were those tears of aggravation since beverage service had already been completed and the FAs had to issue refunds and serve another round?

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imbisibol March 29, 2023

I don't know. Wouldn't the FAs have been peeved about issuing refunds for possibly 20, 30, 40 or more passengers then charging the same again to the kind passenger's card..