- TikTok user Hannah White revealed how Delta Air Lines held her connecting flight so she could say a final goodbye to her dying mother in a now-viral clip
- “Delta’s kindness gave me 24 extra hours with her. I was able to say ‘I love you’ one last time,” White wrote in the heartwarming video
- “I don’t think any of them really know the gratitude that I have for them for giving me some extra time with my mom or just being nice to me on one of the worst days of my life,” White added to CNN Travel
A woman will forever be thankful to Delta Air Lines after the team helped her say goodbye to her dying mother one final time.
In a now-viral TikTok posted on Dec. 9, 2024, Hannah White explained how her mom, Kathleen Nelson, had been in the hospital for undiagnosed pneumonia, adding that she’d “had surgery and was doing well.”
White then got a call from her brother to say their mom’s body had gone into septic shock “and family needed to visit her immediately” as “doctors did not know what was wrong or how long she had.”
White then headed out on “the first flight the following day from Dallas, with a connection in Minneapolis.” However, due to “mechanical issues” they ended up sitting in the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport for over an hour, meaning she probably wouldn’t make her connecting flight.
She said that if she didn’t make the second plane, “I wouldn’t see my mom until the following day and we weren’t sure she’d be alive,” per the TikTok clip.
After speaking to a flight attendant, White was told that she was going to miss the connecting flight and had already been booked on a flight the following day.
“As she explained this, I immediately started welling up with tears. She apologized and cried with me. I bawled in my seat, knowing there was a possibility I wouldn’t be able to see my mom one last time,” White wrote over the TikTok clip, before explaining that the attendant shared the story with the pilot, who arranged for the connecting flight to wait for her.
The team even put White in first class, so she “could get off the plane faster.” The pilot also made an announcement to let people know she needed to get off the plane first to say goodbye to her mom.
“The man next to me realized they were speaking about me, so he pulled up a map of the airport and helped me find my connecting gate. He told me to run as fast as I could as soon as we land,” White wrote.
She ended up making it to the connecting flight after they waited for her for 30 minutes, revealing how kind staff were, as well as saying the pilot shook her hand and said he’d pray for her.
“My mom passed away the next day. Delta’s kindness gave me 24 extra hours with her. I was able to say ‘I love you’ one last time and provide the comfort for her in her final moments, that she provided for me my whole life,” White wrote, thanking the airline and saying “you gave me the gift of time.”
Since she posted it last month, White’s clip has had 1.9 million likes and been watched 10.2 million times as of Tuesday, Jan. 7.
The flight attendant who helped White that day was Eva Ortiz, per CNN Travel, with the pilot, Captain Keith Napolitano, telling the outlet of the incredible outcome, “The stars don’t always align where I have the immediate ability to affect the outcome, but this was one of those cases where I felt it was possible.”
White told the publication, “I was overwhelmed with joy because I had accepted that I wasn’t going to see my mom until the following day.”
“I don’t think any of them really know the gratitude that I have for them for giving me some extra time with my mom or just being nice to me on one of the worst days of my life,” she added, per the outlet.
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“My mom was the love of my life,” White continued. “I know everyone says that about their mother, but she was truly the epitome of grace, class, kindness, patience and unconditional love.”
“I feel eternally grateful to them. It wasn’t one person who did one huge thing, it was a lot of people doing a really nice thing,” she added to the publication.
White thanked the staff for the “overwhelming” and “totally unexpected response” in one of her follow-up videos on TikTok, revealing that she’d been in touch with Delta’s CEO, who assured her the team responsible for helping her that day would be getting the recognition they deserve.
A Delta Air Lines spokesperson said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, “On behalf of the Delta family, we extend our heartfelt condolences to Hannah and her family.”
“It brings us some comfort knowing that our people were able to assist Hannah in reaching her destination in time to be with her mother. Our team understands how important these moments are, and we thank Hannah for trusting us with her travel,” they added.
White didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE.
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