Shared post: "My friend Ånika Łodzinski is a flight attendant. Today her coworker posted the following about a REDEYE flight from Arizona to Miami last night:
“Through all the adversities we faced last evening with computer outages, cancellations and delays, nothing prepared me or my crew for 16 passengers. Sixteen. All dressed in black and gray cheap Walmart sweat suits, quietly boarding the 12:30am flight.
Children! Thirty-two scared eyes looking straight forward dazed. We try to speak, yet none speak English.
During the beverage service, one of the crew comes to me in tears. They can’t face these children that have been ripped from their families with a smile.
These children were probably ranging in age from 11, to the most adorable little girl maybe 6 years old. At 2:30 in the morning, deplaned here in Miami not knowing if they will ever see their loved ones again that they were separated from in Phoenix.
Those sweet innocent children, dressed as criminals silently deplaned with the same fear as our initial meeting. Except for the little girl. She looked up at me as she turned left for the main cabin door, with tears of fear streaming down her face. I’m not sure the protocol, but I leaned over hoping to offer some hope, she hugged me, which was returned - much to the scowl and comments from the adult escort.
I pray that these 16 scared little souls, as well as all the other thousands, find their way to reuniting with their loved ones.
We are trained yearly in hundreds of possible scenarios as attendants. Something like this isn’t remotely one of those. I had only met one of my crew a few years earlier, the rest never. Thank God, we had one another to lean on to not only get through the flight, but also maybe some glimmer of hope for those babies.”
What have we become?
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