'Living it up in first class, mama!': Woman gets VIP treatment from American Airlines flight attendants because she is the ONLY passenger on the plane(4 Pics)
A woman traveling to see her elderly mother one last time before she died was given first-class treatment as the only passenger on her round trip American Airlines flight.
Sheryl Pardo, 59, didn't realize she would be the only passenger on her flight from Washington, DC, to Boston until she boarded the plane on the early morning of March 27.
The flight attendants, Jessica and Dion, made the flight special for Pardo by bumping her up to first class and treating her to a personalized welcome message over the loudspeaker.
Sheryl Pardo, 59 (in red), is pictured here with American Airlines flight attendants Jessica (left) and Dion (right). She was the only passenger aboard the flight from Washington, DC, to Boston
Flight attendant Jessica is seen here, giving Pardo a personalized welcome aboard over the intercom before the flight departed
From her new, first class seat at the front of the plane, Pardo videotaped the moment Jessica read the traditional, scripted welcome message - then ad-libbed a bit.
After introducing herself and fellow flight attendant Dion, Jessica said: 'And we have Sheryl as our passenger today, living it up in first class, mama.'
As Pardo cheered, Jessica said, 'Yes, everybody shout out to Sheryl, the only passenger on the plane. Thank you for joining us today.'
'The flight attendants were so great... and it was kind of fun,' Pardo told CNN. 'I was obviously anxious about seeing my mom for the last time, so it was kind of awesome to just laugh.'
Pardo said that once the flight was underway, she and the flight attendants got to chatting - all while maintaining proper social distancing - which led to her telling them about her mother, Sandra Wilkins, 83.
Pardo booked the flight because she needed to travel to see her mother, Sandra Wilkins (pictured with Pardo), one last time before she died while in hospice
Wilkins had worked as a school nurse, before working with refugee families in America and even traveling to Haiti to volunteer after the 2010 earthquake.
Pardo said that Wilkins - who died the morning of March 28 - suffered from dementia and was in hospice care. Like many other facilities, Wilkins' rehabilitation center was closed to visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic, which meant that Pardo and her brother had been barred from visiting the elderly woman recently.
Pardo said that Wilkins' death 'is not a tragic situation because my mom had dementia and had really been declining,' adding that Wilkins 'was living in a stage of life she would not have wanted prolonged.'
Still, she said she was touched by the light-hearted mood of the flight, during which the captain also gave her a personalized altitude update.
'I think in moments like this the pain of losing your mom is exacerbated by being in this frightening time,' Pardo said. 'Other people's kindness is what's going to get us to through this.'
She said that during the flight, she bonded with Jessica after the flight attendant told her her 'whole life story.' They apparently had similar personalities and optimistic outlooks on life.
Pardo called Jessica 'the perfect antidote,' as she managed to ask about Pardo's mom without making the situation sad.
'I want them to know how much it meant to me,' Pardo told CNN. 'It was super positive, which I didn't expect from that trip.'
Pardo (left, with brothers and mom Sandra, center), said she was anxious about the flight and her potential exposure to coronavirus, but her fears were settled by how empty the flight was
Pardo said that she was anxious about making the trip from Washington, DC, to Boston to see her mother, and had decided to make it a one-day trip to minimize her exposure to coronavirus and chances of getting sick.
She said that when she arrived at the airport for her flight, her anxiety increased, thinking about her potential exposure to the virus.
But, her fears were alleviated when she saw how empty the airport was.
'I realized that the airport was safer than the grocery store,' Pardo said, noting that most of the airport was in lock down and that there were only a few people sitting in the departure lounge at 6am that morning.
'I think we all have this attitude of airplanes are really dangerous, and there would be exposure, but there was nobody there,' she said.
It was the same story on her 10.30pm return flight from Boston the next day.
Pardo noted the 'very eerie experience' of being the only person returning a car at the rental office and then getting on the connecting bus to the airport.
'The TSA people were delighted to see me,' she said, adding that she was, once again, the only passenger on the flight, where she was treated to another VIP experience.
'It's been fun to have people care about this story and to get to elevate the flight attendants who have a really hard job and who I'm sure scared going to work right now,' Pardo said.
Pardo said her family plans to host a memorial service for Wilkins in Ithica, New York, where the family was raised in the summer, if it's safe to do so.
The planes Pardo flew on have the capacity to seat 100 people.
Amid fears of the spread of coronavirus, US air traffic dropped about 55 per cent from 2019's numbers during the last week of March, when Pardo flew, according to ABC St. Louis.
