Airman missed the last flight back to her ailing father — but a stranger stepped up to help her bid a final goodbye
Strangers might surprise people with their generosity in their hour of need. An air force worker, Brittany Bunker, experienced a stranger's kindness after she missed the last flight back to see her sick father. The woman had been informed that her father's health had deteriorated, so she took an emergency leave to see him for one last time. She had to take four flights back home and ended up missing one of the connections. She had lost all hope, but then a stranger stepped in to make sure she got to say goodbye to her dad, per Love What Matters.
Bunker got a call from her family on April 2, 2018, about her father's health. "He wasn’t expected to live more than a couple of days and I needed to come home." She talked to the leadership at her workplace and could get an emergency leave to see her dad. "I was scheduled for four flights that would get me home around midnight. My first flight took off late, causing me to miss my next flight." The woman was really worried, but she was able to get another flight with the help of a flight attendant. Before Bunker boarded her second flight, a man walked up to her because she was with her service dog, Shiva. He showed her pictures of his dog, Malinois.
"He told me he served in the National Guard and he grew up around the same place I did. Before this flight landed, I found out my last flight home was cancelled," Bunker went on. She got off her second flight at around 9:30 at night. "I'm texting and talking on the phone with my family, trying to figure out how to get home that night." Her family told her that they were ready to drive five hours to come and get her, while two flight attendants told her that she could get on the next flight that left at 11:30 PM. "Then, the man I met before boarding my second flight came up to me while he was on the phone."
The man had arranged for a professional driving company to take Bunker home from the airport at his expense. "I was apprehensive at first, but he showed the receipts to the flight attendants and when the driver arrived, he sent them a picture of the car, the license plate and the driver." The stranger told her that the only thing he wanted in return was a message that she made it back home safely. "The driver drove me from Chicago Airport, almost five hours, to my front door. I got home about 3 a.m. on Wednesday, April fourth."
Bunker revealed, "The driver told me it cost the man almost $900." The woman credited the man's "selflessness" for being able to reach home and say goodbye to her father. The woman's dad passed away on the morning of April 5th. "There really are good people in this world and I will never be able to thank him enough for what he did," Bunker remarked. "But I hope one day I will be able to pay it forward to someone in need like it was done for me."