A millionaire condemns a mother of three children and scolds her for traveling in business class. But when the pilot announces the arrival with a special announcement for the woman, all his complaints vanish.
‘Yuck! You can’t be serious! Are you really putting her here?! Miss, you’d better do something!’ grumbled Louis Newman as he noticed a mother with three children approaching the seats next to him with the help of a flight attendant.
‘I’m sorry, sir,’ the flight attendant replied politely, showing him the tickets. ‘These seats are assigned to Mrs. Debbie Brown and her children, and there’s nothing we can do about it. I kindly ask for your cooperation.’
‘You don’t understand, Miss! I have an important meeting with foreign investors. Your children will talk and make noise the entire time, and I can’t afford to lose this deal!’
‘Sir…’ The flight attendant had just started to speak when Debbie interrupted her.
‘It’s okay. I can sit elsewhere if other passengers are willing to exchange their seats with my children and me. It’s not a problem for me.’
‘Absolutely not, ma’am!’ the flight attendant responded sharply. ‘You are seated here because you paid for it, and you have the right to be here! Whether someone likes it or not, and sir,’ she turned to Louis, ‘I would appreciate it if you could be patient until the end of the flight.’
Millionaire Louis Newman was annoyed that the flight attendant had refused his request, but he was even more upset to be forced to sit next to a woman who clearly did not belong in business class and was wearing the cheapest clothes on the plane. He put on his AirPods to avoid being forced into a conversation with the woman and turned his face away as she sat down next to him and helped her children buckle up tightly.
Soon, the boarding process was complete, passengers were seated in their assigned places, and the flight took off.
It was Debbie and her children’s first time flying in business class, so the kids started clapping with joy as the plane took off. ‘Mom!’ her daughter Stacey called out. ‘Look, we’re finally flying! Yay!’ Some passengers on the plane turned to Stacey and smiled at her innocence, but Louis had a look of disdain on his face.
‘Listen,’ he said, turning to Debbie. ‘Could you please ask your children to be quiet? Since I missed my previous flight, I’ll be taking my meeting from here.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Debbie replied politely, signaling to the children to be quiet.
Louis’s meeting lasted almost the entire flight, and while he was talking, Debbie noticed that he was a businessman primarily involved in the textile industry, as he frequently mentioned fabrics and had a pattern manual.
At the end of Louis’s meeting, Debbie approached him and asked, ‘May I ask you a question?’
Louis didn’t want to talk to her, but since his meeting had gone well and the investors had approved the deal, he was very pleased and dropped his arrogance.
‘Uh… yeah, sure, go ahead.’
‘I saw that you had a manual with patterns and fabric designs. Do you work in the clothing industry?’
‘Uhhh… yes, you could say that. I own a clothing company in New York. We just closed a deal. I wasn’t really expecting it to work out, but it did.’
‘Oh, that’s nice. Congratulations! I actually run a small shop in Texas. It’s more of a family business. It was founded by my in-laws in New York. We recently opened a branch in Texas. I was really impressed by the designs you presented.’
Louis scoffed at her sarcastically. ‘Thank you, ma’am! But the designs produced by my company are unlike any local or family shop; we hire some of the best designers and just closed a deal with the world’s best design company! A SHOP, SERIOUSLY?!’ he muttered loudly enough while looking at Debbie mockingly.
‘Oh, well,’ Debbie felt humiliated by his comment but kept her cool. ‘I—I understand. That must be something really big for you.’
‘Something big?’ Louis smiled and shook his head. ‘A poor woman like you would never understand what that meant, but it was a million-dollar deal!
Allow me to ask you again,’ he said after a short pause. ‘I mean, I’ve seen your tickets and everything. I know you’re flying business class with us here, but believe me, you don’t look like someone who belongs here! Maybe next time, try economy and find people who own shops like you?’
Debbie’s patience was beginning to wear thin at this point. ‘Listen, sir,’ she said sternly. ‘I get it; this is my first time flying business class, and I struggled to understand the check-in process and everything else, but don’t you think you’re going a bit too far? My husband is on the plane with us, but…’
Before Debbie could finish her sentence, an announcement on the public address system signaled their arrival at JFK. But instead of turning off the speakers after his announcement, the pilot, Captain Tyler Brown, had something more to say.
‘I would also like to thank all the passengers on this flight, especially my wife, Debbie Brown, who is traveling with us today. Debbie, honey, I can’t tell you how much your support means to me.
Louis’s heart skipped a beat, and his face turned red with embarrassment when he realized that Debbie’s husband was the pilot on the flight.
“This is the first time I’ve flown on a Class A flight, and I was nervous. Thanks to my wife for reassuring me that everything would be fine and for coming to comfort me despite her fear of flying. Today is my first day back at work after a long period of unemployment. My wife and I have never had an easy life and have faced many hardships, but I have never heard Debbie complain about our situation. So today, which also happens to be the day of our first meeting, and which my wife may have forgotten, I want to propose to her again on this flight. DEBBIE, I LOVE YOU, BABY!”
Tyler broke protocol and stepped out of the cockpit at that moment to propose to Debbie with a ring on one knee. “Will you spend the rest of your life with me again, Mrs. Debbie Brown?”
Everyone on the plane was now watching Debbie and her children, who looked like the most beautiful family in the world. When Debbie nodded yes, tears in her eyes, all the passengers applauded, but Louis remained stunned and ashamed.
But Debbie wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily. She approached Louis before leaving the plane and said, “A materialistic man like you, who only thinks about money, would never understand what it’s like to have loved ones around you. And yes, my husband and I live a modest life, but we are very proud of it!
