Seven-year-old Giovanni, along with his mom, Christina Fabian, and dad, George Alvarado, were heading from Bellingham, Washington, to their home in Phoenix when their flight was interrupted by Giovanni’s allergic reaction.
“He began to get very itchy and he was scratching all over. He started to get hives, so we informed the flight attendant who informed us that there’s dogs on every flight and [she] just smirked, which minimized his experience for me,” said Fabian.
Takeoff was delayed and the family was ordered to deboard.
“We understood. They helped us off the plane, but as we gathered our stuff the people toward the back of the plane clapped,” said Fabian.
Seriously, they clapped? What is wrong with people?
“People who don’t have sadness, they don’t understand,” Giovanni explained.
The little boy, it seems, is wise beyond his years. Family hardships will do that to a person.
As it turns out, the trip to Bellingham to visit family was on the family’s bucket list.
“My dad is sick with Stage IV throat cancer,” said Giovanni. He said the trip was “to make memories, and I am sad that this has to be a memory with my dad.”
“As a dad I was just hopeless right there. I just looked at the people clapping. I was just shaking my head, I was like man, let’s get out of here,” said Alvarado.
He hopes that people who hear the family’s story will think about what others might be going through before they react. “You don’t know how much time people have or why they are hurting. Just be nice. Be kind,” said Alvarado.
Look, I understand that airline travel is a hassle and sometimes people’s nerves are on edge when they’re flying. And there’s always that one guy who ends up making everyone else’s flight more miserable than it has to be, right? But my goodness, this was a 7-year-old boy! The adults who cheered a child’s suffering and a family’s obvious distress demonstrated an appalling lack of compassion and human decency. If you were one of them, I hope the next time you fly you get seated near the restroom with the plugged up toilet—and that you’re forced to sit next to the guy with the tuna melt who overflows into your seat and insists on trying to sign you up for his “sure bet” multilevel marketing scheme. You totally deserve 8 hours of that.
See the interview with the family on the next page.
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