Woman’s Airport Angel Is Arizona Cardinals’ Jermaine Gresham

Delilah Cassidy was on the return leg of a trip to Europe Wednesday when she met her “angel” at the Los Angeles International Airport. By then, the recent Arizona State University graduate was in tears. She was about to board her flight to Phoenix when an American Airlines employee told her she would have to pay $50 to check her bags because they were too large for the overhead compartments.

And, no, the airline wouldn’t take cash at the gate. Her bank didn’t know she had returned from Europe, so the card charges were denied. Panic set in. Her only option was to head back to the ticket counter and pay the fee. And she would miss her flight after a long day of travel, according to the story that unfolded on Twitter.

She pleaded for an exception, but to no avail. That’s when the kindly stranger, her angel, stepped in.

“ ‘How much is it?’ They tell him $50 and he says ‘I got it,’ ” Cassidy posted. (Get Phoenix Patch's real-time news alerts and free morning news letters. Like us on Facebook. Also, download the free Patch iPhone app or free Patch Android app.)

“I’m astonished and tell him it’s fine not to worry and he hands the lady his card as the American Airlines employees stand in silence shocked by this man’s generosity,” she said in the next post. “They swipe the card and he tells me to have a great flight and hop on board.”

As she boarded the flight, she saw him sitting in a first-class seat and offered him $50, “but he just shook me off and told me to pay it forward.”

“My heart is so happy,” she wrote. “There are good people in this world. Be that person for someone because I know after this I sure will be.”

Later, she learned her angel’s identity. It was Arizona Cardinals tight end Jermaine Gresham.

Read the full Twitter stream.

Photo: Tight end Jermaine Gresham, No. 84 of the Arizona Cardinals, celebrates a 14 yard touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks in the first half at University of Phoenix Stadium on Nov. 9, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)