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Screenshots courtesy of Hailey Sand

Woman clears aisle on flight to help passenger see dying grandfather

Even when your life feels like it's falling apart, other people's lives are still going on as normal. Unfortunately, the world doesn't stop because tragedy strikes someone's family, but recently on a United Airlines flight, one woman had a pretty close equivalent. Hailey Ann Sand recently took an unexpected trip after finding out her grandfather was being placed on comfort care as he was nearing the end of his life.

Sand knew she wanted to be there for his final moments, so she booked a last-minute flight and headed out. What was supposed to be a smooth trip wound up being stress-inducing due to the flight landing behind schedule. The airline was aware that some passengers had connecting flights taking off in a few minutes so they made the announcement asking for passengers to extend courtesy to those with tight connections.

airplane, flight airport, airplane passenger, sky, commercial jetblue and white airplane in the sky during daytime Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash

Sand was one of those with an extremely tight connection when the flight landed in Denver, but as airline passengers often do, many stood up, not allowing others to get off the plane first. It was then that the grieving granddaughter was reminded that there are still good people in the world. The woman shares in a video that she was in seat 31A and another woman, whom she didn't know was in seat 31B noticed the urgency on Sand's face prompting the woman to inquire if something was wrong. After Sand explained that she was in a hurry to catch her next flight so she could be there with her grandfather in his last moments, the stranger sprung into action.

Sand's connecting flight was scheduled to depart in 25 minutes but the aisle was completely blocked. That is, until her seatmate got everyone to clear it.

airports, airplanes, denver, foot traffic, takeoff, airport gatePeople walking inside an airport. Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

"You didn't owe me anything but you stepped out in the aisle and you announced very loudly to everybody to please step aside so that I can get off the plane in a timely manner," Sand says hoping her words reach the woman who helped her. "We landed 25 minutes before my next flight was supposed to depart, and it was a 22-minute walk across the Denver airport. We flew into gate 73ish, and I was flying out of 12. I had to walk all the way across. I just want you to know that I made that flight and I got to be there last night. And I got to tell my grandfather how much I loved him and he got to tell me back and he understood what I was saying."

The grieving granddaughter was able to be there along with the rest of her family until her grandfather passed. She continues the video with an emotional thank you to the stranger saying that her act of kindness changed her life, hoping the video would reach the kind stranger. While the video didn't reach her, the video did reach United Airlines causing several flight attendants and crew to reach out to Sand. Through some detective work, they connected her with a relative who connected her with the stranger, Katie.

Turns out Katie wasn't just an average passenger, she's a hospice nurse who deeply understands a family's need to be together during someone's final hours. Sand tells Upworthy it look less than 24 hours to track Katie down and get in touch with her. While the flight they shared was from San Antonio to Denver, Katie just happened to be traveling from work and isn't from either city and Sand lives in San Antonio but is from Washington. The chance seating assignment seemed meant to be.

Once Sand reached her family she left her chance encounter with a hospice nurse to feel the warmth and comfort of the hospice nurses at Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake, Washington, "They did an excellent job for my grandfather in his final moments but also my whole family in helping us through a difficult time."

Sand shares that her grandfather was "a husband of 62 years, a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, a brother, a friend, a mentor. He served in the Army and worked his whole life as a farmer. He was the most hardworking man. He loved to travel and has been all over the world. He was very involved in his community, and the world would be better with more people like him in it."

While the woman hoped the video would reach the passenger that helped her on the plane, she likely didn't expect it to reach over 9 million people but since it has she hopes people leave her video with a message of kindness.

"I hope this story continues to resonate with people and inspire them to love each other more, and think twice when the flight crew asks you to stay seated so that people who have a tight connection can get off the plane. You never know why someone is traveling and it’s not always for a happy reason."

When Lori Gabriel boarded a United Airlines flight from San Diego to Houston with her partner and his 4-year-old son, Braysen, she didn't expect the scene that was about to unfold.

Braysen, who is autistic, usually loves to fly. But shortly before takeoff, he wanted to take off his seatbelt and sit on the floor.

"It was impossible to restrain him," Gabriel told CNN. "He was fighting both me and his father. It took the both of us to try to get him back to his chair and get his seat belt back on. He started kicking, screaming and hitting."

"That's when a flight attendant came over and told us the flight couldn't take off until he's seated," she said. "I told her the boy has autism, we're trying, give us a minute."


The flight attendant walked away as the couple continued to try to get Braysen calmed down and buckled. When the flight attendant returned with two other crew members, they asked how they could help the family. "Then they sprang into action," Gabriel said.

RELATED: This mom's viral story of strangers' kindness illustrates how it truly 'takes a village.'

They allowed Braysen to sit on Gabriel's lap with his father holding onto him. And once the seatbelt sign was turned off, they let Braysen lie on the floor in the aisle.

"When he's overstimulated, the vibration makes him feel better," Gabriel said.

Braysen moved around the cabin, visiting people in first class for a while. "Braysen seemed happy there, so we didn't want to move him," Gabriel told CNN. The boy started kicking a man's seat, and Gabriel apologized. "I told the man 'I'm sorry,' but he said he didn't mind, he introduced himself to Braysen and gave him high fives. He said, 'He can kick my chair, I don't care.'"

"Everybody in first class was kind to him, asking his name, showing him pictures on their phones, letting him sit whenever he wanted," Gabriel continued. "The flight attendants kept asking if we needed anything, making sure everybody was taken care of."

Gabriel shared photos from the flight on Facebook:

One of the photos shows a note written on a torn out magazine page, which an off-duty flight attendant handed to Gabriel at the end of the flight. It reads:

"I commend you for your strength. Do not EVER let anyone make you feel as though you are an inconvenience or a burden. He is a blessing. God bless your patience, your support, your love, and your strength. Continue to be superwoman. And know you and your family are loved & supported. - United Family"

RELATED: A 4th-grader explains to class what having autism is like. The teacher was stunned by their reaction.

After Gabriel tweeted the story with a shout out to United, the airlines tweeted back:

Gabriel was brought to tears by the overwhelming kindness of the crew and passengers on the flight.

"For the first time, people have been very understanding and helpful about Braysen's autism," she said. "It's very promising, we don't have to care about what other people think because there are people who are caring, who understand. It gives me a lot of hope for the future."

With so many stories of people complaining about babies or children on flights, how heartwarming is it to see a story of a whole flight being kind and flexible with a small child with special needs?

Way to go, United Flight 2210. Thank you for showing us what inclusivity, kindness, and compassion look like in action.

Video footage of police officers dragging a screaming man off a United Airlines flight after he refused to give up his seat is sparking outrage and raising questions.

The man was randomly selected by the airline's computer system to be removed from the Louisville, Kentucky-bound aircraft to make room for United employees who were attempting to catch a connecting flight.

Passengers were reportedly offered $800 to disembark and be rebooked on a flight the next day, but no one accepted the offer.


The incident was captured on video, which ricocheted across social media.

United says the passenger was asked several times to leave the plane before the police stepped in to remove him.

"Our team worked as much as possible to have him deplane without having to involve law enforcement," a United spokesperson told Upworthy.

Bystanders' ability and willingness to record confrontations with authorities on their smartphones has changed the way we perceive and talk about events like these.

More importantly, these recordings force us to confront critical issues like:

1. Do police try to de-escalate situations like this? Or are they simply in the business of applying force?

The airline declined to provide detail on how the removal took place, referring questions to law enforcement. According to witnesses, however, the man went limp as officers pulled him down the aisle, suggesting the impact had perhaps knocked him out.

Later, the same witnesses reported, the man re-boarded the plane bloodied and apparently dazed — though the Chicago Police Department maintained, in a statement, that the police were called after the "passenger in question began yelling to voice his displeasure" and was taken to a local hospital to be treated for his injuries. The question remains: What, if any, steps were taken to tone down the situation before the police resorted to physical force?

How many airline passengers would have known they are at risk of being forcibly removed from a plane for not giving up their seats on request, if not for this video?

2. Should airlines even be able to overbook flights and boot passengers from flights they've paid for?

United says it followed Department of Transportation procedures for removing the passenger.

Furthermore, United's contract of carriage states that it has the right deny any passenger the right to board a flight if it is oversold. But how does that apply to customers who have already boarded the flight?

Airlines have pretty broad authority to boot passengers for safety reasons, but if you've paid for a ticket on a certain flight at a certain time, why should the airline have the right to remove you once you've already boarded? Let alone to make room for its own employees?

These recordings raise the question: When push comes to shove, what rights should airline passengers have?

3. Why are there rules restricting how much money airlines can offer people to give up their seats?

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

Federal law limits the amount of compensation airlines can offer to bumped passengers to $1,350 — an increase from the $800 limit prior to 2011, but still a cap. Apparently, United didn't go that high (their offer stopped at $800) before deciding to have police eject the passenger. But for enough money, could they have gotten someone to take the offer?

What's the purpose of setting a limit in the first place? Should airlines be able to offer passengers as much money as they want if they really need to clear the space? Wouldn't that be preferable to potentially forceful interactions with passengers?

We might not even know to wonder if this interaction hadn't been caught on tape.

A United representative says the airline is reaching out to the passenger to address the incident.

In the meantime, it's doubtful we'd be having this conversation at all if bystanders hadn't used the technology in their pockets to record the event as it was happening.

Right now, the recordings raise more questions than answers.

It's a good thing we have them.

Update 4/11/2017: This article has been updated to remove a video that is no longer available.