Hero flight attendant's gut instinct saved young girl from human traffickers
A veteran US flight attendant has shared the story of how she saved a young girl from people-smugglers for the first time.
Alaska Airlines employee Shelia Fedrick said she noticed something was amiss with the youth looking like she had “been through hell” on board a Seattle-to-San Francisco flight.
The woman estimated the teen was about 14 or 15, and had greasy blond hair, seated near the window beside an older man, according to NBC.
"He was well dressed, that's what kind of got me because why is he well dressed and she is looking disheveled and out of sorts?" Ms Frederick told Florida TV station WTSP.
The 49-year-old woman said the contrast of appearance between the two made her think something was not right.
The Alabama woman said she tried to speak to the pair, but the man would become agitated each time. The girl would not speak or look at her - only the man would respond.
She was able to deliver a secret message to the young passenger directing her, under her breath, to go to the bathroom, where the quick-thinking flight attendant placed a note on the mirror for her.
The girl responded to the message saying she needed help, so the hero immediately raised the alarm with the pilot.
Police were contacted and officers were waiting for the man at the terminal when the plane landed, and he was arrested.
“I've been a flight attendant for 10 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,” Ms Frederick said.
"If you see something, say something."
Ms Fedrick left her number on the note and the teen contacted her a few weeks after the incident.
The pair remained in contact following the 2011 incident, and the young woman is now studying at college.
The intervention sparked additional training for flight attendants to help them spot signs of human trafficking.
The strategy appears to be successful, with the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) receiving a 54 per cent increase of reports of human trafficking on the previous year.
