Flight attendant praised for returning lost book to school so student avoids 'any fines or discipline'
A Pennsylvania middle school principal is praising a Spirit Airlines flight attendant for helping one of his students avoid late library fees after she left a borrowed book behind on a flight.
The principal of Springton Lake Middle School in Media, Penn., took to Twitter on Wednesday to shout out the airline and flight attendant Jamie Patzer, who kindly sent a lost library book she found on an aircraft back to the school where it belonged.
REUNITED! What a kind gesture by an employee of @SpiritAirlines. One of our students left behind a library book during a recent trip. After 1000s of miles, the book arrived home today @SpringtonLakeMS. Thanks, Jamie! #KindnessMatters pic.twitter.com/MhlreIJS2w
— Dr. Robert Salladino (@SpringtonLakeMS) April 3, 2019
According to her handwritten letter, Patzer found the book in a flight attendant cubby onboard a Spirit Airlines plane and decided to help the student who left it there out.
“I wanted to return it to your library to help the student who checked it out avoid any fines or discipline,” the letter reads. “I believe by the time I found the book, it literally travelled thousands of miles across the country multiple times — what a story it could tell!”
The school’s principal, Dr. Robert Salladino, told Yahoo Lifestyle that the librarian received the package earlier this week before bringing it to the front office. The student who had taken the book out was then called into his office and asked about her overdue book.
“I said, ‘I wanted to talk to you about an overdue library book.’ And she said, ‘Oh, yeah. Should I bring in money for that?’” Salladino recalled. “I said, ‘Well, where is the book? Let’s talk about the book. What happened?’ And she said, ‘Well I went on vacation to Florida and I took the book with me. And I think I may have left it on the plane, so I’m not sure where the book is.’”
Salladino quickly pulled the book out from under a stack of papers on his desk and said that the reaction on the student’s face was “priceless.” He then handed her the letter from the flight attendant, which the student read in disbelief.
“I wasn’t able to at the time contact the flight attendant,” Salladino said. “But I do think that our librarian has sent a thank you to Spirit Airlines.”
Spirit Airlines responded to the school’s tweet on Thursday and said, “We’re happy we could return [the book] to its rightful owner.”
Luckily for the student, Salladino explained that the book was only overdue by about three days. Still, he said, “There were no fines for the book.”
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