Finding Derek

This just happened recently.  I can't keep it to myself. It's a story worth sharing that has a happy ending.

Here it goes . . . .

We were boarding our flight from Bangor, Maine to LGA when I noticed this passenger was preoccupied on her phone, anxious and crying. Her name is Nancy Trogdon.  I had no time to ask her if she’s okay because I was busy boarding. The last row was open, so I decided to moved the lady next to her to that open row, to give Ms. Nancy her space to deal with what’s going on with her. The lady I moved to the last row told me about Ms. Nancy, that she’s going to JFK to find her son, Derek whom they have suspected to be missing. He’s 30+ yrs old, with "special needs" and was an English teacher in Korea. He’s getting sick so his family decided to bring him back to the US.  They bought him a ticket, but he changed the flight, and for couple of days they had no communication.  He has a brother in Korea who is also a teacher.

When it was time for me to serve her, I asked what’s going on. She told me that her son was supposed to arrive last night to Portland from JFK, but didn’t show up. He was on the Korea flight, but his family found out from the travel agent that he missed his connecting flight from JFK to Portland yesterday.  They were afraid that something has happened to him because he’s not been in contact for almost a week. He doesn’t have a US phone number so his family couldn’t contact him. They are worried because of his condition.

Ms. Nancy bought a last minute expensive round trip ticket to NY to find him.  Her plan was to go to JFK to look for him, and if he's not there, they were ready to report him to Police station as a missing person. She seemed clueless on what to do and where to find Derek. She doesn’t know anybody at JFK and it has been a long time since she last traveled to NY.

My plan was to catch the 2pm flight from LGA to go home to Jacksonville after my 4 day trip. But after hearing her story, I decided to go with her to JFK to guide her in finding her son. I gave her hope that we'll find Derek.

We took the Golden Touch bus to JFK, and while on the road, her daughter said that Derek called (using a Delta phone) that he’s okay and he missed the flight last night but will be on the 10:30pm flight. We were relieved after hearing that. She began to smile.

I accompanied her through TSA at terminal 4. We thought of how to start finding him; we looked around from B18 area. We tried to call the Delta number but we had no idea where he used it. We decided to proceed to gate B55 where the earlier flight left to see if he’s there. He wasn't there. Then we proceeded to terminal 2 where the 10:30pm flight will depart. We scanned through the passengers around hoping to see him. We were about to page him, when Derek called his sister again and said that he's at B55 terminal 4.  We instructed her daughter to tell Derek to call his mom directly so it would be easier to communicate.

We went back to terminal 4 and there we found him. She was so relieved and happy seeing him. They hugged. I saw the emotions that transpired with both of them. And I took their photo because I wanted to share with them this important moment.

We found out from him that he was rebooked on the morning flight but he missed it again and there's a chance that he may miss the next flight again because he's getting sick.  Ms. Nancy has a return flight on the same time as Derek. So they’re together on that flight, and a sure thing that this time, Derek won’t miss the flight again.

I left them from there. They were both grateful. She said that she will never forget me and what I did.

I called Crew Scheduling last night and wanted to get in touch with the Captain of their flight to Portland, to let him know that they are on board, to give them special care and to welcome back Derek. Crew Scheduling relayed the message to the Captain. I thought it would be a nice gesture for their reunion to end it with a nice flight back home.  Ms. Nancy messaged me as soon as they landed Portland and told me that Derek loved the "surprise" and the pilot was very nice.

I was happy to be with Ms . Nancy on this difficult time of her life. I always look for opportunities like this, and this was one opportunity I didn't want to pass. I wanted to let Ms. Nancy feels that we take care of our customers, and we wanted to be a part of their happy ending. 

I am sharing this story not because I wanted to take credit for it. But I wanted to write this wonderful story of a mother being reunited with her special son whom she hasn’t seen over a year, and who was "allegedly missing." 

It's a beautiful "human interest" story to tell, and great memory to remember. 

This is special to me, and one of my favorites, as well.