A group of women trying to celebrate a friend’s 30th birthday almost had their trip ruined when they were in danger of missing their connecting flight—until the pilot stepped up to save the day.
Brittany Kamerman, 28, was traveling with seven friends to Panama City Beach, Florida, to celebrate the milestone birthday in May, but the long trek from Salt Lake City, Utah, came with some hiccups.
“We had a 45-minute layover in Dallas, but our first flight was delayed by 50 minutes, so I was fully prepared for us to miss our connection,” Kamerman told Newsweek.
Eventually landing just 30 minutes before their connection was due to take off, Kamerman, who was sitting at the front of the plane, rushed to the gate—an 18-minute walk away—and got there in time to board, with a friend who had caught an earlier flight already waiting there.
But her group was still far behind her, including friend Kiley, 30, who was seven months pregnant at the time and naturally wasn’t able to move as fast as usual. And so, Kamerman pleaded with the gate agents to hold the plane for a few minutes as the group made their way across the airport.
“But the gate agents were so rude—I was shocked,” Kamerman said, revealing the agents refused to hold the flight. Newsweek has contacted American Airlines via email outside of normal working hours and will update this article if they respond.
“I fly a lot, and usually if a group is running to make a connection because of a delay—especially to a tiny airport that closes at 10pm—the agents will wait. I even told them we had a pregnant friend coming, but I don’t think they believed me.”
She said they “stalled as long as we could,” before Kamerman boarded to “try and talk to someone” about the situation.
“I was super frustrated and explained the situation to the flight attendant. Then the pilot overheard and asked what was going on.”
And when she shared the story to the pilot, she said, he was only too willing to help, declaring: “Well, they won’t leave without me.”
“He was so nice, and actually got off the plane to help. I couldn’t believe it!”
The chaos of the connection was caught on video and shared to Kamerman’s TikTok account, @brittanykamerman, on June 12, set to the sound of Elton John’s I’m Still Standing and describing the pilot as “our hero.”
It shows the remainder of the group rushing to the gate, having rushed all the way there, with the clip taken by Kamerman’s friend, Ali.
The camera then shows the group piling on to the plane, this time taken by Kamerman who has already boarded. It shows one woman holding her arms up as though she’s just crossed the finish line at a marathon, and all of them grinning and laughing.
Kamerman’s clip proved popular online, having been viewed more than 1.2 million times since it was shared earlier this month, as commenters shared their own stories.
One recalled: “Our flight was 6 hours delayed in Georgia and they had no one to load the luggage. Our pilots got off and loaded all our luggage so we could get home. They were out of breath when they spoke through the speaker.”
“I had no idea I was sitting next to an off duty pilot on a flight. We were running late. I was about to miss my connecting flight. He left his seat. He came back a few minutes later and said they’ll be a golf cart waiting for you. They’re holding the plane,” another shared, adding: “Love pilots. My dad was one.”
Others defended the gate agents, suggesting they could have been in trouble if they held the gate and it would be “out of the gate agent’s hands.”
On American Airlines’ website, it advises passengers that boarding closes 15 minutes before departure, and “if you’re not on board, we may reassign your seat to another passenger. You will not be allowed to board once the doors close.”
Air travel is an enormous market in the US, expected to generate a revenue of $246.12 billion in 2025, with an estimated growth of around 2.47% annually, according to Statista.
By 2029, it’s expected the number of users in the air travel and flight market will reach 86.37 million.
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