The generous man who gave up his first class seat on his birthday for a mother with a sick baby has spoken out for the first time.
Kelsey Rae Zwick and her daughter, Lucy, were in their seat preparing for a flight from Orlando to Philadelphia when a flight attendant approached and told them they had been given a first-class seat by a passenger.
“Not able to hold back tears, I cried my way up the aisle while my daughter Lucy laughed! She felt it in her bones too… real, pure, goodness,” Zwick wrote on Facebook.
“It reminded me how much good there is in this world,” she added later.
The man who gave up the seat was revealed as Jason Kunselman, 46, an industrial engineer from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He was flying back to his home state after a project in Florida.
Kunselman said that when he spotted Zwick and Lucy with the oxygen machine providing critical support for the little girl as they traveled to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, he teared up.
“She had an oxygen machine for her daughter. It couldn’t be put over her head and she had to have it with her the whole time. It was so touching seeing the little girl with her oxygen. I was tearing up as I saw her,” Kunselman told the Daily Mail.
He knew that he had to give up his seat for the mother and daughter so they could travel comfortably to Lucy’s appointment.
“I expected to see her in the front since she had the oxygen machine with her but when I boarded she was in the back. So I asked the flight attendant if she thought the young lady with the baby would be more comfortable in my seat,” he said. “I just hoped that she had a better flight with more room.”
تم النشر بواسطة Jason Kunselman في الجمعة، ٢٤ نوفمبر ٢٠١٧
He said that many passengers thanked him for switching seats with Zwick and Zwick’s daughter.
Kunselman, who flies an average of four times a week and has the top frequent flier level of status for American Airlines, didn’t realize the experience would be broadcast nationwide until Zwick’s Facebook post went viral.
“We truly appreciate the kindness of the gentleman in 2D. We were able to connect the two of them together, and our team is reaching out to him as well to extend our thanks for the kind gesture. In the words of Kelsey, we also want to pay it forward with our thanks and appreciation,” American Airlines said in a statement.
Kunselman has since been put into touch with Zwick through American and she sent him a private message.
“Thank you doesn’t cover it,” she wrote. “The world clearly needed your kindness.”
