Flight Attendant’s Quick Thinking Saves Passenger From Terrifying Fate

As an experienced flight attendant, there isn’t much that Sheila Fedrick isn’t used to seeing, however, this one journey would definitely change her life.

Something Doesn’t Feel Right

Sheila Fedrick takes part in the usual tasks on the plane. She works with customers to ensure a safe flight, as well as providing refreshments and a positive attitude. One day, she noticed something extremely strange on a flight from Seattle to San Francisco. Following her gut, Fedrick acted quickly and uncovered what turned out to be a horrifying discovery.

Just A Normal Day, Or So She Thought

Alaska Airlines flight attendant Sheila Fedrick was having a normal day at her job. A 10-year veteran in the industry, her bright smile and terrific personality made all customers feel welcomed. The short flight from Seattle to San Francisco was only scheduled to be a two hour flight. However, for one passenger, this voyage seemed far longer.

Spotted Something Peculiar

Part of Fedrick’s job includes welcoming customers onto the plane. By attending to everyone’s personal needs, the flight will run much smoother for both the crew and the travelers. Upon walking down the aisle, Fedrick spotted something very peculiar.

Something Struck A Nerve

During the usual on-board stroll down the plane, Fedrick noticed a young woman sat alongside a much older man. Normally, this wouldn’t be a huge cause for concern. However, the girl’s appearance told another story.

Something Did Not Add Up

The man sitting next to the woman was dressed very nicely — almost as if he was a businessman traveling on a quick business trip. The woman, on the other hand, looked disheveled with greasy blonde hair. This wasn’t the only weird thing Fedrick noticed about her.

She Started To Worry

In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Fedrick gave a first-hand account of what the female looked like: “The bruises that I saw on her, her appearance, her demeanor. I knew something was just not right. [She] looked like she had been through pure hell.”

Did Not Know What To Do

At this point, Fedrick didn’t exactly know what to do. A sense of worry surely crept into her mind. The face of this young girl sat emotionless as she looked out from her window seat on aisle 10 of this plane. Something had to be done. Eventually, Fedrick put a plan into action.

Thinking On Her Feet

She knew that she had to act fast in order for her plan to work, she was nervous and desperate for it to work out. This was her only chance and she had to do something about this gut feeling.

Plan Of Action

Fedrick decided to engage with the man and young woman. By doing so, this could ease any concerns and/or pre-conceived notions Fedrick may have had on the two travelers. Upon trying to speak with the woman, the older man acted in a surprising manner.

Strange Behavior

The young woman wouldn’t make eye contact with the air stewardess. Upon Fedrick trying to engage, the man instantly became defensive. He essentially would not let her answer Fedrick at all. At this point, Fedrick decided to try and help the young girl with a sneaky plan.

Call For Help

Later on in the flight, Fedrick managed to convince the girl to visit the bathroom by whispering the request under her breath. It was a skilled sense of ability, considering the man’s mean personality from earlier on. As she entered the bathroom, she noticed a small note pinned to the bathroom window.

Plan Underway

Fedrick deemed the situation to be an emergency. She did not want to alert the man of her plans. Taking a small piece of paper, Fedrick penned the question “Do you need help?” She then wrote her phone number at the bottom of the page. Upon seeing the message, she wrote a response back to Fedrick.

Forced Into Action

When Fedrick went back in the bathroom to check the note, she instantly became terrified. Using the pen Fedrick had left for her in the bathroom, the young lady replied on the back of the note that she indeed did need help. From here, Fedrick was quickly forced into action.

What Now?

Her heart started to pound extremely fast, she went up and took the note and read it in her hands. She gasped for breath, as her mind began racing.

Notifying The Pilot

Fedrick burst into the pilot cabin and immediately notified the pilot of what was going on. Acting quickly, the pilot then contacted the police from 30,000 feet in the air. At this point, it was up to the San Francisco Police to leap into action as soon as the plane landed.

Landing

As soon as the plane landed, local police were waiting for the man in the airport terminal. He was promptly arrested by the authorities. From here, she was thankfully saved. However, as the story unfolded, Fedrick realized that she was in worse danger than she actually thought.

Uneasy Outcome

What would later be revealed, was worse than she could have imagined. If she hadn’t noticed the girl that day, she couldn’t bear to think what could have happened.

Harsh Reality

It was revealed that the young lady was indeed a victim of human trafficking. Due to Fedrick’s quick thinking, she very well could’ve saved her life. At the very least, Fedrick saved her from entering a scary and highly dangerous world.

Challenges

In a news interview, Fedrick spoke about the harrowing challenges many women faced. She also offered some personal perspective on how situations like these could’ve popped up in the past without her knowledge:

Truth Comes Out

“I’ve been a flight attendant for ten years and it’s like I am going all the way back to when I was in training. And I was like, I could have seen these young girls and young boys and didn’t even know. If you see something, say something.”

Difficult Topic

While the topic isn’t spoken about too much in the media, it’s turned into a serious problem. In 2017, an estimation of 50,000 women and girls were trafficked into the United States for prostitution. Additionally, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 2,000 human traffickers and identified 400 victims.

Acting On Intuition

Credit Fedrick with acting upon her intuition. Clearly something was wrong, and she took action to help improve the situation. Fortunately for the teenage girl, her life was saved by the act of a tremendously wonderful woman. As a result of Fedrick’s deed, the teenage girl has embarked on another journey.

Strong Friendship Formed

Six years after this incident took place, the now grown woman attended college. Remembering Fedrick’s phone number from that fateful day, the two have kept in touch over the years. The bond from such a crazy day surely will last for a long, long time.

Spreading The Word

The brave flight attendant has since spoken out on many news channels, and as her story has spread, she is making sure that this worrying subject matter is spoken about more and more, and that precautions are being put in place, to try and stop this atrocity from happening.

Life Saver

Without question, the story involving Sheila Fedrick and this young woman is absolutely fascinating. Acting on her instincts, Fedrick beautifully portrayed the role of a concerned citizen. Her benevolence aided in saving this woman from venturing down a wicked path.