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| Pilot turns plane around for elderly couple so they could visit dying grandson | Pilot turns plane around for elderly couple so they could visit dying grandson |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A pilot has been praised for turning a plane around moments before take-off so an elderly couple could visit their dying grandson in hospital. | A pilot has been praised for turning a plane around moments before take-off so an elderly couple could visit their dying grandson in hospital. |
| The pair found out their grandchild was in intensive care while on board an Abu Dhabi-bound plane taxiing towards a runway at Manchester airport. | The pair found out their grandchild was in intensive care while on board an Abu Dhabi-bound plane taxiing towards a runway at Manchester airport. |
| After the pair told the crew, the pilot turned the plane back towards the gate while staff arranged for their luggage and a car so they could get to their ill grandson's bedside. | After the pair told the crew, the pilot turned the plane back towards the gate while staff arranged for their luggage and a car so they could get to their ill grandson's bedside. |
| He died later that same night on 31 March. | |
| “I've been in the travel business for 25 years and never heard of this happening,” the couple's travel agent, Becky Stephenson, told the BBC. | “I've been in the travel business for 25 years and never heard of this happening,” the couple's travel agent, Becky Stephenson, told the BBC. |
| Ms Stephenson praised the Etihad Airways pilot, adding that her customers were “so grateful that staff were very helpful and they were taken care of”. | |
| The airline said the couple could use their tickets to Abu Dhabi whenever they chose. |