A woman is reminding people there is good in the world by sharing her story of a stranger offering his first-class seat on an aeroplane so she could sit with her sick baby.
Kelsey Rae Zwick was flying from Orlando to Philadelphia with her 11-month-old daughter Lucy for treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia when the flight attendant informed her that a fellow passenger was waiting to switch seats.
According to Zwick, who shared the touching story on Facebook, she was travelling with a stroller, a diaper bag, and her daughter’s oxygen tank.
“We pre-boarded the plane, got cosy in our window seat and made jokes to those around us about having to sit by my yelling-but-happy baby,” the mum wrote. “The flight attendant came over and told me you were waiting to switch seats. You were giving up your comfortable, first class seat to us.”
The gesture moved Zwick to tears - but made her daughter, who suffers from chronic lung disease, laugh as they walked to the front of the plane.
“She felt it in her bones too... real, pure, goodness,” she recalled.
The mum concluded her post expressing her gratitude to the stranger, not just for the seat, but for “noticing” - for “seeing us and realising that maybe things are not always easy” and for doing a good deed.
“It reminded me how much good there is in the world,” she said.
Zwick also included the man’s seat and plane number and asked that people share her story so she can say thank you properly.
Zwick’s post has since been shared more than 340,000 times, with the touching gesture resonating with others as well.
“So loving and this post made me cry,” one person wrote. “There are so many wonderful and caring people out there. I thank that man along with you.”
Another said: “The world needs more stories like this one. Thank you for the morning tears. Kindness matters.”
And in the meantime, the mum said she would be paying it forward.
“AA588 passenger in seat 2D, we truly feel inspired by your generosity,” she wrote.
