Local News

Flight attendant saves young girl from human-traffickers

Shelia Fedrick says her heroic act was all down to following her gut instinct.
Sheila Fedrick, Alaska Airlines

An Alaska Airlines employee is being hailed a hero after it was revealed that she managed to change the life of a teenage girl thanks to her quick-thinking and intuition.

According to Florida TV station WTSP, Sheila Fedrick, 49, was working a routine shift on a flight from Seattle to San Francisco when she noticed a young, blonde girl looking “dishevelled and out of sorts”, travelling with a well-dressed man.

Ms Fedrick says the girl actually looked like she’d “been through hell”.

It was this stark contrast that made her think that something was seriously amiss between the two travellers.

Ms Fedrick then attempted to speak to the girl and the man, with Yahoo 7 reporting that the man apparently got frustrated each time she tried.

It was then that Ms Fedrick, under her breath, directed the girl to go to the bathroom, where she was able to leave a note on the mirror for her.

The girl responded to the message, notifying the flight attendant that she needed help, which prompted Ms Fedrick to notify the pilot, who then contacted police.

“I’ve been a flight attendant for 10 years and it’s like I am going all the way back to when I was in training and I was like I could have seen these young girls and young boys and didn’t even know,” Ms Frederick says.

“If you see something, say something.”

Ms Fedrick’s courageous act has since incited additional training for in-flight staff to spot the signs of human-trafficking and people-smuggling.

Related stories