Big WIN for WN on this story – it’s a terribly sad story, but this pilot’s exemplary actions make it easier to take. My condolences to Mr. Dickinson and his family.

CNN — Time was running out, and Mark Dickinson wasn’t sure whether he’d get to see his dying 2-year-old grandson one last time. A long line at Los Angeles International Airport’s security checkpoint had kept him from getting to his gate on time.

His grandson Caden would be taken off life support in a matter of hours in Denver, Colorado, with or without his grandfather’s presence, according to CNN affiliate KABC.” I was kind of panicking because I was running late, and I really thought I wasn’t going to make the flight,” Dickinson told KABC.

That’s when a pilot from Southwest Airlines stepped up and held the flight at the gate until Dickinson arrived. The pilot was standing by the jetway waiting for him when Dickinson arrived in socks, so rushed that he just grabbed his shoes at security and ran through the terminal.

“I told him, ‘Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that.’ And he said, ‘No problem. They can’t leave without me anyway,’ ” Dickinson told KABC.

via Pilot holds flight for man going to see dying grandson – CNN.com.