A Southwest pilot surprised a random passenger with a bunch of gifts

There’s been a lot of coverage about how airlines are failing their passengers. But the latest story to go viral is a totally different story because a Southwest pilot surprised a random passenger with a random act of kindness. And that random act happened to include a bunch of awesome gifts.

The lucky person on the aircraft was chosen because she was the pilots one millionth passenger to fly on his plane in his long career.

And the video that was captured is pure joy.

“I’d like to make one special announcement before we go, the pilot can be heard saying in the video that’s gone viral on Facebook.

The giving pilot, Captain John Richie, explains to the cabin full of smiles that he used to fly a F-16s as a combat test pilot before retiring from the Air Force 22 years ago. After his retirement, be began to fly commercial planes for Southwest and kept track of every passenger he flew in that long career.

"Today is a very special day," he says. "Today I'm flying my one-millionth passenger.

Captain Richie then walked up to a woman that he had tallied as that lucky one millionth passenger. He handed her an autographed copy of her boarding card signed by him, a bottle of champagne, and an envelope full of cash equaling the price of her ticket.

“I did a little bit of snooping, and I found out how much you paid for your ticket,” he said.

The video was uploaded to Facebook by Southwest flight attendant Jennifer Todd. It has quickly climbed up to over 1.7 million views so far and with almost 2,000 comments.

Since it’s clear everyone needed a happy story about airlines, this certainly gives everyone all the feels.

“Captain John Charles Ritchie, you, sir, are the epitome of everything Southwest stands for and continues to even though we’ve grown so incredibly much over these past 45 (+) years,” Todd writes in the caption of the video. “Without a heart, it’s just a machine!!”

There isn’t one person who is not smiling. We all can use this happy news today!