I know AA gets a lot of flack on here so I thought I would share a positive and somewhat emotional experience from today. I’m currently on AA 1217 to DFW and the pilot notified us we are transporting the remains of a US Army Sergeant that was killed during WWII in Germany. After 70+ years, this man, Sergeant Husak, has finally been identified and is returning to his family. The pilot of our flight did a great job telling us about Sergeant Husak and also asked that everyone wait in their seats until this hero and his military escort have left the plane. Moments like this definitely put a lot of my minor criticisms of AA in perspective and make me both thankful and proud. I’m happy American was able to bring this hero home; may he finally Rest In Peace.

i have to say, once we landed the whole plane stayed seated until the escorting Sgt had deplaned. After that, approx 1/3 of the passengers stayed on the plane and moved to the right side windows to watch the honor guard and family receive the casket. It definitely wasn’t a quick process and the cleaners were already on the aircraft cleaning it for the turn with us still on there. However, most all of the crew stayed to watch as well and no one ever approached us passengers and told us we needed to deplane. It was a very somber yet moving moment to see what I assumed to be the siblings and family of this long lost soldier reunited with their brother after so many years.