When a man and a teenage girl boarded a flight from Seattle to San Francisco, Alaska Airline flight attendant Shelia Frederick was suspicious.
The man was smartly dressed while the girl wasn’t and she refused to make eye contact with anyone.
While doing her job aboard the plane, Shelia could not stop wondering about the girl and eventually hatched an ingenious plan that took real courage. Courage that meant this young girl was saved from a dangerous situation.
Shelia Frederick, you are a hero my friend! @AlaskaAir Flight attendant rescues girl, signs of human trafficking http://buff.ly/2kAgoHj
Posted by Women Who Startup on Monday, February 6, 2017
Shelia couldn’t ignore the girl and desperately tried to make eye contact while she served snacks on board the flight.
She conveyed her suspicions to a colleague and the two worked together to distract the man while Shelia tried to get the girl’s attention.
“She finally looked up and the look in her eye was just heartbreaking, so I excused myself to go to the back and I just broke down,” Shelia said in an interview on Good Morning Britain.
She hatched an ingenious plan whereby she put a piece of paper and pencil in one of the plane’s bathroom and then locked it with the aim of unlocking it only for the girl.
While her colleague had the man’s attention Shelia mouthed bathroom then mimed writing. She then waited and hoped the girl understood.
Left a piece of paper and pen in the bathroom
Thankfully the girl excused herself to use the bathroom. The man stayed with her outside the bathroom but Shelia refused to leave the area, keeping a close watch on the man.
“I left a note in one of the bathrooms,” Shelia said. “She wrote back on the note and said, ‘I need help.’”
Shelia alerted the pilot who contacted ground control to organize for authorities to stop the man on landing.
Hear the full story from the hero flight attendant herself in the clip below.
Shelia kept in touch with the young woman she saved from human trafficking and the two have spoken a few times over the years. The young woman is even attending college, according to the Western Journal.
“If you see something, say something,” Shelia informs others.
Please share to remind people to trust their instincts and to pay tribute to the brave and wonderful Shelia Frederick. She is such a great example to us all.
