Her pilot father promised her a ride from the airport. Then he surprised her by flying the plane home

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When Addison Stock asked her pilot father for a ride home from the airport, she knew he’d come through.

“When he shows up, it’s like, ‘Okay, I’m taken care of,” Stock tells WILLHOST Travel. “That’s how he’s been my whole life, he’s always been the type to show up.”

But she couldn’t have predicted just how far her father would go this time.

It was early August, Stock was returning from her “perfect” honeymoon in Cancún, Mexico, with her new husband, Quinn. The couple expected Stock’s father, Southwest Airlines captain John Arvin, to meet them with his car at arrivals in Phoenix, Arizona.

First, though, the couple had to endure a packed flight home. They’d forgotten to check in the day before — too busy enjoying their final day of vacation — and now finding themselves at the back of the line for unassigned seats, they figured they’d be sitting apart.

As she waited at the gate in Cancún, battling a headache, Stock noticed a Southwest pilot lingering nearby, looking at his cellphone. Strange behavior, she thought.

And then she glanced in the other direction, and got the surprise of her life. Walking toward her, in full uniform and grinning, was her father.

“It felt like an out-of-body experience, because you’re just so not expecting your dad at the airport,” recalls Stock.

Stock glanced back at the other pilot, now filming the moment on his phone. Only then did it click. Her father wasn’t going to meet her at the airport in Phoenix. He was going to fly her there.

Stock’s husband Quinn caught on more quickly. He was already hugging Arvin while Stock was still sitting, stunned. Eventually, she jumped up to embrace her father too.

“It was so fun,” Stock says. “A really great way to end the whole thing, the trip, the wedding season. It just felt really special.”

Airport surprise

Stock and her husband couldn’t believe it when they saw Arvin at the gate in Cancún. Karl Sheltz

Captain Arvin had been planning the surprise for months. The idea began when Stock asked him to help plan her honeymoon. After the flights were booked, he quietly checked to see who would be piloting the return leg — and bid for it himself.

Flight secured, he told his wife, Kelli, and Stock’s grandparents, but swore them to secrecy.

Then, when Stock and Quinn asked if he could pick them up in Phoenix, he agreed, without giving anything away: “I would be picking them up from the airport. I just didn’t say which airport.”

To avoid any leaks, Arvin turned off his phone’s location services, which usually ping a family group chat whenever he lands in a new destination.

On the day of the flight, Arvin’s fellow pilot, Karl Sheltz, scouted the gate, while Arvin hid out in a gift store until it was time to walk up to his daughter.

“I said, ‘You told me to pick you up at the airport, so here I am’,” recalls Arvin, laughing. “She was surprised that her dad was there. It was funny. It was an exciting time.”

After the hugs and a selfie, Arvin slipped away to prepare the airplane — and made sure the couple were the first to board the plane so they could choose their seats after all.

The crew were in on the surprise and welcomed Quinn and Stock on board the flight John Arvin

Arvin didn’t mention that his daughter and son-in-law were on board during his preflight remarks. “I usually don’t try to announce that my family’s on the airplane,” he says. “I just leave it subtle.”

But he did congratulate the newlyweds in general terms during his preflight remarks. He also briefed his crew.

“Usually, when something like that happens, it’s exciting for the whole crew, because most days are just typical in and out days,” says Arvin. “And when something special is happening, you kind of get a little pick up in your step.”

Later, when the flight landed in Arizona, Arvin successfully delivered on part two of his promise. “I walked them out of the airport to the car where I was parked, and went home.”

Father-daughter relationship

Stock says Arvin’s kind gesture epitomizes his caring nature. Karl Sheltz

For Stock, getting flown home by her dad was the perfect end to her honeymoon.

“I just knew that we’re in good hands and we’re gonna be taken care of,” she says. “And that just kind of sums him up for me.”

As for Arvin, he says it was a joy to share one more milestone, so soon after walking his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.

“She’s very important to me,” he says. “I’ve been able to be in her life a lot, and it was special. It was neat to be there.”

“Everything worked out, lined up just right, and it was just what I was hoping for.”

Stock says her father’s gesture epitomizes their relationship. She says growing up, her father was always there for her and her brother, Connor. “He’s just a good dad,” she says. “He cares and wants moments with me.”

Quinn, Stock’s husband, also appreciated the surprise.

“They are really close,” says Stock. “My dad just absolutely loves him and cares for him like a son.”

Stock says she’s now excited to begin a new chapter with her husband, but the flight was a reminder that her father will continue to support her.

“It just was such a testament to just how he has literally always been, my whole entire life, which is just there and cares and wants it to be special,” she says. “I loved it. It was just perfect.”