Dawn Briggs was on her way to the Cancun airport on her way back home to Newtown, Connecticut via New York's JFK airport when she got an automated message from the superintendent of schools that there had been a shooting at an unnamed school in Newton and that her children's school was in lockdown. She has two children that are in first and second grade. When she boarded the flight she learned the shooting occurred at Sandy Hook elementary and not her children's school, reported ABC News.
Briggs said to ABC News that she was crying and shaking when the airline and passengers came to her aid. "I was thinking, perhaps there are multiple shooters, going from school to school," she said to ABC News. "I was helpless on the flight. Every sentence triggered a new fear."
She said that the flight attendant offered her tissues and assistance and the captain personally offered her a ride home.
ABC News reported that Briggs watched the news on JetBlue's tv where she learned that there had been as many as 20 deaths during the tragedy. She would find out later that she personally knew three of the children killed in the shooting. When Briggs got off the flight she called her husband and found out her children were safe.
"I'm sure I wasn't the only person on that plane with connections to the shooting," Briggs said to ABC News."But the professionalism of everyone on the flight was incredible. The flight attendant, she had a job to do, she remained stoic and didn't show if she was upset. She followed through on everything she said she was going to do."
Briggs reached out to JetBlue on Facebook and thanked the airline personally.
A JetBlue spokesperson said, "We're proud of our crew members who went above and beyond to help one of our customers during a most difficult time. Caring is in our DNA at JetBlue; we often say that we're a customer service company that happens to fly planes."
In another act of kindness, JetBlue flew letters from family members of one of the victims of the shootings. 6-year-old Noah Pozner died in the Newtown shooting and his family requested that Noah be buried with notes from his family, reported The New York Daily News.
Noah's aunt Victoria Haller told The New York Daily News that she was worried the cards would get there too late for Monday's funeral. Haller's husband was already in Connecticut while she stayed in Seattle with their children. She tweeted her plea and it was retweeted until JetBlue saw it and reached out to Haller offering to deliver the notes. A flight attendant picked up the cards at the Seattle airport and at JFK one of Haller's friends picked up the notes and drove them to Noah's funeral.
"I know I've seen wonderful things happen before because of social media but I was so overwhelmed and impressed," Haller said to The New York Daily News. "They did something I wasn't able to do and we're all going to be eternally grateful for."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
