Was on my way back from Maine in Bangor Airport two days ago to New York city. I was late to the airport due to returning our rental car, and waiting for shuttle to bring me to airport. And that’s after I dropped my wife at airport first and then went to pump gas before returning the car. Guess what? By the time I got to airport, it was 12 noon, and the flight departs at 12:18 pm, literally 18 min to rush. However, as I went through the security system, even with my TSA pass, I was expedited until they detected my coffee powder in the bag, and I was detained until they thoroughly ‘scanned’ the coffee powder. By then I had like 12 min left, and the door of plane to close 10 min before departure. Finally I got through the system, and ran with all my might to gate 53 and by the time I got there, I was greeted by a few lady officers there telling me that the door to the plane had closed. I looked outside the plane was sitting right there and I looked with frustration and sadness. I appealed to them, saying the plane is still here, and my wife is in the plane. They won’t budge because it’s the captain’s call. I pleaded with them to just open the door, and in 2 minutes I will be in the plane, and they would get a happy passenger, and news of their service will spread. But they refused to budge. They did call the captain, who said and also told my wife in the plane that it’s the  procedure they follow.

I prayed to the Lord for help, and if I don’t board then, I will have to spend overnight in hotel waiting for the next available flight at  6 am the next day. The extra dollars and anguish is just crazy. Then I decided to wave my both hands at the plane by the huge glass panel overlooking at the plane, hoping the captain will see me.

Then all of a sudden, the phone at the counter rang, and they told me that captain has opened the door to let me in. I thanked them and ran with all my might towards the plane. When I got in the plane, some passengers clapped for me. It was so encouraging, and then I blurted out how they refused to open the door and argued with me for more than 5 minutes when I could have been in and taken off . One woman kindly reminded me to cover my face with mask.

After I sat down, I asked Doreen, my wife, how did it happen? She told me that, the captain made an announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, I see that there is a passenger staring at me from the airport. I see that we are still early, and I decided to open the door to let him in.” That’s the story.

As we all disembarked after landing in NYC, on the way out, I met the captain who’s saying goodbye to all, I told him, “You saved my day! You are the one who had compassion and empathy when all doors closed per procedure. We need more people like you, and thank you!” He responded “Absolutely!”. We need courage to break the procedure even a little bit, because we have common sense, and  more importantly, we have empathy.

I loved how the Lord moved for me. You should see the women even warning me that by reopening the door again, the pilot risk losing his parking spot in JFK airport. Here I was so annoyed and upset, that even a 2 minute delay will cause a plane landing to lose its spot?

Regardless, I flew, and I got home safely and promptly. After a great vacation in Maine, the Lord is good. Amen.