HONOLULU (KHON2) — A baby’s first flight can often be a memorable one, but for one child, his first flight was made even more special. It’s all thanks to a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant.
Callie and Leo Foster said they were returning home to Los Angeles following a vacation on the island when a flight attendant saw them signing to their son Luca.
That’s when another flight attendant came over and began a conversation.
“He was just fully immersed in this conversation,” said Callie. “You could see immediately his little hands go and him making all those sounds and grunts, because he really understood it was a connection. It was the first time we’ve ever really seen him communicate with somebody other than us in sign.”
“Then his little grunt, his excited little scream, when he saw this random flight attendant signing to him, it was really special,” said Milo Penarubia, Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant. “I’ll remember it for a long time.”
Penarubia said, he spent his free time on plane rides learning sign language by watching YouTube videos so he could communicate with his deaf or hard-of-hearing passengers.
Luca’s parents said they’d like to extend their gratitude to him and hope more people will take the time to learn American Sign Language to connect with the deaf community.
