'Family picking slain son's remains booed by first class passengers

I saw this story a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't believe it - so I didn't. I chased down the details of it and got an entirely different picture.

The Perry family was flying from Sacramento, CA to Phoenix, AZ, ultimately traveling to Dover to meet their Fallen Warrior. For totally unrelated reasons, the 1hr 45min flight was 45min late taking off.

First piece of missing key info: Everyone on board was already a little bit tense because they were late and might miss connecting flights, et al.

When the aircraft landed in Phoenix, the Captain asked that everyone remain seated while a "special Military Family" exited the aircraft (he didn't identify them as a Gold Star Family).

Second key piece of missing info: The Perrys were not identified as a Gold Star Family.

My conclusion, the passenger(s) being vilified here were...

1: Unaware the Perrys were a Gold Star Family and therefore can't be criticized for being disrespectful to them or their loss.

2: In light of the fact that the flight was already 45 min. late, it's understandable people might be a little tense and given to some kind of exasperated utterance when asked to wait even a couple of minutes longer.

I'm confident that if the other passengers had known they were being asked to wait another moment or two for a Gold Star Family to deplane, they would have respectfully waited.

What grieves me is that this not-completely-accurate aspect of the situation is being posted and repeated, while American Airlines and its employees are not given credit for what they did to ensure this Family arrived at their destination ASAP. Not only did AA get them to their destination as quickly as possible, the Captain of their connecting flight leaving from Phoenix delayed his departure 40 min. for them. That's the real story!


CORRECTING ONE GLARING FACTUAL ERROR IN THIS POST:

Their son's body was NOT on this flight. They were en route to Dover to receive the casket coming from the ME.

ENS (Join to see) I am thankful that USMC veteran Stewart Perry and his wife were treated well by American Airlines on their somber flights to meet the remains of their son killed in Bagram, Afghanistan US Army SGT John Perry. I am glad that even though he and his wife were booed and hissed by some passengers the crew and some passengers honored them. It is to his credit that Stewart Perry has no ill feelings about those who booed and hissed as he and his wife got off the plane first.
Yes some passengers booed and hissed the Perry's. As a soldier I was prepared for decades to defend the rights of those who disagreed with my views as well as those who shared them.

At a minimum after assisting the family in anyway possible. I would make the SOB in first class famous on facebook and hope he needs to use the facilities.