For Delilah Cassidy, her knight in shining armor arrived in a gray T-shirt while carrying a credit card.
The 22-year-old recent college graduate was at Los Angeles International Airport, trying to board a plane headed home. But American Airlines said her carry-on bag was too big and she needed to pay a $50 fee to get it on board.
The agent wasn't allowed to take cash and Cassidy's credit cart was declined because she had just returned from Europe and her bank was not aware she was back in the country, she said.
She was tired and frustrated and just wanted to go home.
They tell me that I’m going to have to miss the flight and head back to the ticket counter to pay down there. I’m pleading, devastated after a long day of travel. Then, this man walks up and says, “How much is it?” They tell him $50 and he says “I got it.”
— Delilah Cassidy (@Delilah_Cassidy) May 30, 2018
Up stepped a man she had never seen before. "I got this," he said and handed over his card. He paid her luggage fee and walked onto the plane.
"I was overwhelmed with emotion and happiness," she told InsideEdition.com. "I started sobbing. I broke down crying."
When she boarded, she saw him seated in first class and tried to pay him with cash. He wouldn't take it. "You don't have to pay me," he told her. "Just pay it forward." And then she gave him a big hug.
She was embracing Arizona Cardinals tight end Jermaine Gresham, she found out later.
WOW okay so the most amazing thing just happened to me and I can’t help but share it with the world. American Airlines instituted a new policy where you have to pay to take a carry-on onto the plane. Which is ridiculous but off topic.
— Delilah Cassidy (@Delilah_Cassidy) May 30, 2018
"What I hope is that it inspires other people to commit random acts of kindness like he did," she said. "To do good just for the sake of doing good."
After their flight landed in Phoenix, she hooked up with Gresham again and grabbed a selfie with him.
Update: It was Jermaine Gresham. pic.twitter.com/aJ0bXoNm8Q
— Delilah Cassidy (@Delilah_Cassidy) May 30, 2018
American Airlines also weighed in after her tweets went viral.
@Delilah_Cassidy That's an amazing act of kindness. Bag charges may apply on Basic Economy fares. Please DM your flight info for a look.
— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) May 31, 2018
Some of Gresham's fellow players chimed in as well, saying it was no surprise because Gresham is just that kind of man.
Maineeee!! bro always been solid !
— D.J. Humphries (@74_hump) May 30, 2018
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