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Pilot turns around airplane for Phoenix family

Posted at 4:18 PM, Dec 31, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-31 18:18:11-05

An Arizona woman and her family made it to her husband's funeral after a pilot, in a rare move, delayed their connecting flight and returned to the gate.

Delta Air Lines confirmed Thursday that Capt. Adam Cohen turned an aircraft at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport around earlier this month after a Phoenix-area family frantically waved at him through airport windows.

Delta spokeswoman Elizabeth Wolf says while on-time departures are the priority, the pilot took the situation as an opportunity to make a difference without endangering other passengers.

A pilot for Delta subsidiary Endeavor Air, Cohen will not face any disciplinary action.

Marcia Short and her three adult children were trying to make it to their 56-year-old father's funeral the next morning in Tennessee.

Their first flight from Phoenix was delayed.