A pilot has been praised for writing a letter to the tooth fairy for a little girl who had lost a tooth on his flight.
Lauren Larmon, from South Carolina, told Fox News how she, her husband and children Lena and James had boarded a flight from New York home to Greer, South Carolina, on 18 June, after a holiday to Norway.
It was only when they disembarked at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport that Lena realised she had lost a tooth at some point during the flight.
“We groggily picked Lena up and were walking down to grab our bag,” said Ms Larmon.
“We sat her down, and she realised, ‘Oh, my gosh, my tooth fell out.’”
The six-year-old was upset at the thought that she hadn’t kept the dislodged tooth for the tooth fairy.
“She started crying, saying, ‘I have nothing for the tooth fairy,’” said Ms Larmon.
“You know, she’s tired, she’s six.”
Even though it was 2am, the family decided to go back to the plane to see if they could look for the tooth - however they could not find a member of staff to let them back on.
But they happened to walk past one of the pilots who had captained their United Airlines flight, says Larmon, along with a few members of the crew.
“They saw Lena upset and asked what happened,” says the mother of two.
“A flight attendant said, ‘You know, I think the tooth fairy will understand. It’s not a big deal. I’m sure she deals with this all the time.’”
“But that didn’t quite do what I guess Lena needed it to do, and she was just really sad.”
It was Captain Josh Duchow who had the idea to write an “official” note to the tooth fairy on Lena’s behalf, to explain the situation.
“Dear tooth fairy, Lena had a tooth fall out on her flight to Greenville, please take this note in place of her tooth,” says the note.
Lena asked the pilot if the note would definitely work, and he assured her it would.
According to her parents, Lena went home and tucked the note under her pillow that night.
She received a reply from the tooth fairy in the morning, saying: “Lena, it’s okay. I’ll find your tooth. Keep brushing.”
Ms Larmon said the family had been tired and grumpy after a 36-hour-delay during their journey. She praised United’s staff for taking the time to chat to her daughter.
“Everyone should be this kind to kids,” Larmon told reporters.
“Captain Josh just really went out of his way to make a bad situation much better.”
