When this woman boarded her plane, she had no idea what she was getting herself into.
Her nightmarish flight however was saved by an inspiring man.
Savannah Phillips is a young woman from Chicago, currently living in Oklahoma City.
While she’s happy there, she misses her family back in Chicago and tries to visit them as much as possible.
One thing she doesn’t really like however is flying by plane.
Unfortunately for her though, it’s the fastest way possible to see her family so she had to make concessions…
When Savannah Phillips flies, she prefers to pick a seat in a row where she’s by herself. It’s not because she dislikes conversing with others though.
Savannah explained in a Facebook post that it has to do with a fear of judgment.
“I’m not the biggest person on the airplane, but I’m not the smallest. My worst nightmare is someone being uncomfortable because they have to sit next to me,” she posted.
Unfortunately for her, she was going to experience something terrible…
Once, Savannah couldn’t pick her seat since the plane seats were almost fully reserved. Thus, she was assigned a random one.
Although she was obviously unsatisfied by this, she couldn’t imagine what would happen…
Savannah took a small leave from her work to travel back to Chicago and visit her family and friends there.
She said goodbye to her children and husband and tried to mentally prepare herself for the trip.
Savannah checked-in at the airport and waited patiently to board. While everything was seemingly fine, she felt as if she was being watched.
She felt uncomfortable but shrugged it off as a product of her anxiety.
She boarded the plane, stored her cabin bag and then sat on one of the first rows.
She sat there, patiently and anxiously waiting to see who was going to be sitting next to her.
An older man, wearing yellow sunglasses approached her seat with a stern look in his face and asked her about her seat’s number.
He then let her take the seat by the window.
The man looked to be about in his sixties and introduced himself as a comedian.
We don’t know what demographic he’s popular in, but what he did was certainly not funny.
Even before they took off, the man showed there was a mean side to him, by small comments about random people or matters.
She was getting more and more uncomfortable…
While the flight attendant started the safety speech, the man got his phone out and started typing while smiling. Savannah wouldn’t have noticed that but his screen’s brightness (turned all the way up) gave him away.
Then she saw it…
“His phone was maybe 12 inches from my face and he proceeded to text someone that he was sitting next to ‘a smelly fatty,'” Savannah wrote on her post.
She was shocked and her fears confirmed…
As she said later, when she saw that text, she immediately assumed he was talking about her.
After all, she was the only one sitting next to him at the time…
Undoubtedly the most infuriating part was that he had probably purposefully turned his screen’s brightness all the way up, to show that text to others.
Was that a twisted “joke”?
In fact, it was so obvious that others noticed his phone and text and posted about it online.
His bullying was obviously making everyone around him upset.
Savannah’s nightmare had come to life: “I don’t even know what the rest of his text said. I turned my head away as fast as I could.
I was shocked and it was like confirmation of the negative things I think about myself on a daily basis.”
“Before I knew it, I could feel hot, salty tears coming down my face. I sat and cried silently, hoping this guy didn’t try to make small talk, because I didn’t trust how I would react and I didn’t want to get kicked off the plane.
I was so hurt,” she continued on her online post. Thankfully for her though, her luck was about to change…
Chase Irwin from Nashville also read the man’s cruel messages. He decided to record a small video of that guy and post in online with the following caption: “This guy just text his wife that he is sitting next to a smelly fatty and is going to vomit.
I watched her read his text and is now looking sad.”
Chase knew he had to put an end to this behavior. When he saw her crying, there was no coming back.
He stood up and launched himself towards the man’s seat.
Chase tapped the man sitting next to Savannah on the shoulder, then said, “Hey, I need to talk to you.” Right away the guy removed his earphones, and Chase told him, “We are switching seats.
Now.”
“You are texting about her and I’m not putting up with that,” Chase said to him. The older man actually complied to his orders and switched seats with him.
Chase then tried to comfort an obviously hurt Savannah.
According to Savannah, “He encouraged me not to let that guy get to me and that everything was going to be fine.
We talked about my husband Ross and the kids, his two-year-old son, our jobs, amongst other things.”
“I told him thank you for what he did and that it meant the world to me- and that he would be my husband’s new favorite person. The flight attendant kept trying to give him free drinks and told him that he was her hero.
He wasn’t her hero – he was mine,” she went on to say.
Savannah made this post on Facebook and it soon went viral. Positive comment after positive comment was written on her profile, especially regarding Chase. One person wrote: “Thank you Chase for being the gentleman and hero you are!
Savannah you are beautiful and don’t let anyone tell you any different! Stay strong and always keep your head held high!”
Another commenter wrote: “This story gives me hope that we can change the way we judge people by appearance. This man is such a wonderful example of how we as individuals may promote this change!
Fantastic story!”
Her husband Ross also called Chase to thank him for his support.
He knew his wife was anxious about that issue and while furious about the bully, he was glad he protected her in such a way.
Savannah said that they only reason she made this story public, is because she wanted Chase to be recognized and congratulated.
On our part, we can only hope Savannah is over that brutal experience and that her bully will think twice before treating anyone else in such a way.