Pilot Bought 30 Pizzas for Everyone on Plane During Hours-Long Delay, Passenger Says

Mar. 15, 2025

Plane Passenger Tanya Stamos (left) and the United Airlines pilot handing out pizza to passengers (right).Photo:Tanya Stamos

Tanya Stamos

A United Airlines passenger is praising her pilot’s unexpected act of kindness.

Tanya Stamos was flying from San Francisco to Houston on Friday, Sept. 13 when the plane had to divert to New Mexico due to a medical emergency onboard, she shared in aTikTokthe following day.

In the clip, she explains that the pilot of her flight ended up doing something out of the ordinary when passengers were forced to wait hours at the airport after the unplanned landing.

She continues, “Our pilot is absolutely amazing. He felt so bad for the situation that he ordered 30 pizzas from a local pizza shop and had it delivered right to our gate, then made sure all 150 passengers ate before he made himself a plate.”

Photos of the scene show the pilot organizing a stack of pizza boxes at the gate. In another shot, he’s seen serving slices from the fresh pies to passengers holding paper plates.

United Airlines pilot handing out pizza.Tanya Stamos

A different commenter echoed, “That’s an unfortunate situation but kudos to the pilot.”

In a statement shared with PEOPLE, United said, “We love to see our pilots go above and beyond for our customers when the unexpected happens. The flight diverted due to a medical concern with a passenger, and we worked to get customers back on their way to Houston quickly.”

United Airlines pilot organizing pizza boxes for passengers.Tanya Stamos

This is not the first time a pilot did something sweet for their passengers.

In 2022, United Airlines captain Josh Duchow comforted a 6-year-old girl named Lena after shelost her tooth on her flight hometo South Carolina from New York.

“I was sleeping on the airplane. My mom woke me up … and we were going to go pick our suitcases up,” Lena toldGood Morning Americaat the time. “And I said, ‘Mommy, mommy, I think my tooth fell out.'”

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After seeing how upset Lena was when she couldn’t find her tooth, the pilot then decided to write a special note to the tooth fairy.

“Dear Tooth Fairy,” he wrote on a piece of paper. “Lena had a tooth fall out on her flight to Greenville. Please take this note in place of her tooth,” he added, signing it Captain Josh.

source: people.com