When an old lady boarded a plane in 2020, she was unaware of the surprise waiting for her. As she sat down in her seat, an announcement from the pilot startled her and then what happened was heartwarming.
During a United Airlines flight in Jan. 2020, Michelle captured a once-in-a-lifetime moment that her mother experienced and uploaded the video to her YouTube account. The two had both been seated on the flight when the pilot came over the loudspeaker to make an announcement, calling out the elderly woman.
“If you were a Capital Airlines stewardess, would you mind raising your hand?”, the pilot asked.
“My mom was a Capital Airlines (merged with United Airlines) flight attendant 60 years ago. She left the airlines to raise 3 children.”, Michelle wrote in the caption of her video.
The surprised elderly lady then uttered, “Oh my God,” and raised her hand. The pilot then called her “the greatest mom ever,” and the woman was immediately overcome with emotions.
The pilot then came out from the cockpit and promptly made his way over to her seat. The elderly woman was shocked when she saw her son dressed in his uniform, showing that he was the United Captain on the flight she was on.
According to Michelle’s explanation in her video’s description, her brother is the oldest sibling in the family and he decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps by working for an airline. This mother was a Capital Airlines flight attendant nearly 60 years ago. Before the airline’s merger with United Airlines, she left her job, giving her undivided love and attention to raising her three kids.
Michelle thought of the perfect way to make her mother feel special and loved on their flight together. She and her brother had teamed up to surprise their mother with her very first flight with the son as their flight’s pilot. Working for an airline seems to be the family’s tradition as Michelle’s father had also been a pilot.
“It was a great moment for our family!”, Michelle exclaimed.
The moment was not only emotional for the family trio but all the fellow passengers on the flight. People cheered them on and some even recorded the special moment themselves.
Since this video was uploaded, people online have also expressed how much the video means to them too. In fact, it’s been viewed over 23.7 million times on YouTube! Considering it’s only been online since January of last year, that’s an incredible feat.
People in the comments were just as supportive as those who were actually on the plane, with many commenting stories about their own moms.
“I’m a pilot. I’ve done this for my mom too. Awesome feeling to see the joy in your mom’s eyes.”, one user who is also a pilot stated that he’d made the exact same gesture for his mother, wrote.
Meanwhile, another got emotional explaining it made her cry, before writing a special note for her mother who has passed:
“Made me cry. So glad this man appreciates his mom and let her know in such a beautiful way. (Miss you, Mom, more than you can know. 1934 – 1998.)”
Another person made reference to how safe the flight would be, stating:
“That’s how you know a flight is gonna be safe, when the pilots mom is onboard.”
People were simply overjoyed by how much love was shown in this video and it got everybody talking about their mothers too. If there’s one takeaway from this video, it’s to call up your mom and show her how much she means to you.
