A positive thing a family member has done for me, that I am truly grateful for is. Once when I was on duty as a flight attendant, I was on a flight to Athens, Greece from New York. Four men had managed to hide weapons on the flight, and hijacked it in mid-flight. They demanded that us flight attendants all strip down to our bras and panties, and please them sexually. It was quite frightening. I have never had this happen to me before during flights, and didn’t receive training to deal with this type of terrorist act.

For survival, I just went along with what they were requesting. They wanted us to massage them with our feet, while wearing our stocking. So, reluctantly we obliged them. I managed to have a satellite phone stashed in the flight attendants restroom.  I announced I needed to use the restroom, and convinced them to let me use it alone. On the satellite phone, I called a very wealthy relative and told them what happened. They agreed to pay a ransom of $6,000,000.00 for our safe release, including the passengers. So, my relative spoke with the leader of the hijack, and told them they would immediately wire the money, if they would allow the pilot to land the plane at the nearest airport, and they all agreed. The money was wired successfully, within an hour, and we landed in Paris, France.

All of the passengers were so relieved to be out of the custody of those men.

I am truly grateful for my relative, as they saved my life, and the lives of everyone on the flight.