Airport Goodbyes That Brought a Tear to Airline Employees’ Eyes

Airport goodbyes are never easy, but some cut a little deeper than others. Here are some true tales of people who said goodbye at airports, but be warned: there are some real tearjerkers on this list.

It may seem like a typical scenario – one person going off on a journey, while the other is left behind – but the goodbye can make even the toughest of people weep with sorrow.

These stories were recounted by people who thought they had seen it all, but weren’t prepared for the emotional weight of these separations.

Bye Bye, Baby Bye Bye

I flew a private jet to San Francisco to pick up a 5 year old girl and her mother. The girl had a brain tumor and was in San Francisco for a last ditch effort to be cured. Unfortunately, the treatment had not been effective, and the plane ride had been donated to bring her back home to die.

I don’t remember why the father stayed in California, but watching him say goodbye to his daughter broke my heart. At the time, my wife was close to her delivery date of our first baby, and this really tore me up inside.

Story credit : Reddit / [deleted]

The Final Goodbye

I worked at a very small regional airport so I dealt with passengers from check-in to boarding. Often the passengers and their families would stay together all the way up until boarding.An elderly gentleman was dropping off his son who had flown in from overseas where he lived for a visit.

It was just us three in the terminal at the time, and after check-in the dad looked at his son and said “I have to go before I lose it” and he hugged his son, shook his hand and left. His son stood looking out the window to the tarmac and I could see he was getting a little upset.

It was just us, so I walked over and asked if he was okay, he starts crying and says “this is probably the last time I am going to see my dad”. He then tells me his dad is terminally ill with cancer and he has to return to his job overseas.

All I could do was hug the guy and cry with him, it was very upsetting to me even as a stranger.

Story credit : Reddit / GrandmasTableMints

Welcome to the Family

I saw a family of three ( mom, dad, teenage son) saying goodbye to another younger guy they had hosted at their house for an exchange program or something. The mom was crying and saying that he was part of the family and to visit whenever he wanted.

The guy leaving looked pretty torn up but the dad and the teenage son looked pretty stoic. As the exchange student was leaving he said goodbye to each of them by hugging them and calling them mom, dad, and brother.

The dad and teenage son literally burst into tears and starting sobbing really loudly. It was really sweet but really sad.

Story credit : Reddit / Aklinadz

A Moment of Silence

The saddest goodbye was actually saying goodbye for the final time to one of my friends. He had worked for multiple airlines in the airport and was well liked by everyone. He died suddenly in his sleep and it devastated everyone in our small airport family.

His family wanted to bury him in his home town so we had to ship his body away. Basically the whole airport had stopped operating while his friends loaded his body onto the aircraft taking him home.

The whole ceremony performed was very emotional but I’m glad he got to take to the air even after death.

Story credit : Reddit / redlegsfan21