Normally, a flight delay for anyone would be cause for grumbling and annoyance. But for the men and women aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 870 traveling from Alaska to Hawaii, that 25 minutes of waiting was well worth the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity they were about to witness.
Astronomer and self-proclaimed "eclipse geek" Mike Kentrianakis was about as excited as you could ever hope to be. When the announcement was made that his flight was delayed for 25 minutes, he and his colleagues all happily celebrated. That's because Alaska Airlines knew that a large majority of the passengers on that flight were related to the astronomy field.
While Alaska Airlines doesn't make it a habit to intentionally delay their flights, this was about as special an occasion as you could ask for. And for the rest of the people on the flight, they were in for something that few humans have ever gotten the chance to see in their lives: a solar eclipse from the viewpoint of an airplane.
When the plane took off, Mike had his eyes glued to what was going on outside. And when he noticed the sunshine begin to dim, he got out his camera, and gave an extremely animated play-by-play explanation of what was going on, shouting with the amount of joy that you would expect to hear from a child at Christmas.
If the flight had left any earlier or later, it wouldn't have flown through the path of the eclipse. So for them to be so willing to accommodate their customers is really an amazing thing to see. Customer service still exists, and Mike and the rest of his colleagues are certainly thankful for it!
The next solar eclipse won't happen in America until August 21, 2017. If you've never experienced one of these before, you should really consider going. Especially if you're near the states of Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, or South Carolina. Save the date and protect your eyes!
And please SHARE this amazing video if you've ever been this excited for something!
