An Arizona family faced with a horrible tragedy is praising a pilot for displaying an act of human kindness unusual in the airline industry: delaying takeoff in order to allow them to make the funeral of a beloved family member. 
 
 The family ran into a problem familiar to many travelers -- a flight delay -- on their way to Tennessee. The family was headed to the funeral of Jay W. Short, a 56-year-old husband and father of three who died on Dec. 16 after losing a battle to lung cancer about five months after being diagnosed. 
 
 A 90-minute delay in the family’s flight from Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport left them with about 7 minutes to make a connecting flight in Minneapolis, which was the last plane flying to Memphis that day. The funeral was scheduled for the following morning. 
 
 "This was our last chance to say goodbye to my dad and if we missed the flight we would [have] missed the funeral," Nicole Short-Wibel, Jay’s daughter, told ABC News. 
 
 By the time the family dashed to the gate in the Minneapolis Airport, the door to the jet way was closed and the Tennessee-bound plane was taxiing toward the runway. It was then that airport workers delivered the news to the family -- it was too late to make it on board. 
 
 "My son and I are waving our arms at the pilots and the ground crew as my two daughters are crying their eyes out. We are pleading for them to not take off," Marcia Short, Jay’s wife, wrote in a post that was displayed on her daughter’s Facebook page. "If we did not get on that flight we would miss the funeral. We had to get to Memphis." 
 
 The pilot, Capt. Adam Cohen, saw the desperation on their faces through the airport windows. That’s when he made an unprecedented move -- turning the plane back to ensure the family made it on board. 
 
 Cohen flies for Endeavor Air, a regional airline carrier owned by Delta Air Lines. 
 
 Marcia Short said on Facebook that Cohen and his first officer "Blessed my family and gave us a gift that no one else could. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts." 
 
 "It meant the world," Short-Wibel said. 
 
 Cohen’s decision and the attention it has received has not gone unnoticed by his employer. 
 
 "This Endeavor Air pilot’s decision to return to the gate in this special circumstance is a great reflection of the human touch we want all Delta customers to experience when flying with us," a Delta spokesperson said in a statement. 
 
 Cohen said that helping the family had a big impact on him and the crew. 
 
 "This is something we’ll take with us, knowing we made a difference," Cohen said. "Little moments like this to us are big to these customers and keep them coming back to Delta, but at the end of the day, it also keeps us going." 
 
 While Delta praised Cohen's decision, airline analysts said it's one that could have gotten him in trouble with his employer if it had worked out differently. 
 
 In order for the pilot to hold the flight, he had to risk "the censure of his company," ABC News Aviation analyst John Nance said. 
 
 "The door is always closed on time because the most important thing to airlines is on time departure records," said Nance. ||||| A family frantically rushing to catch a flight on their way to their loved one's funeral received a surprise gift from two Delta pilots. 
 
 J.W. Short's (Jay) last wish was to be buried with his family in Bolivar, Tennessee. After losing his battle with lung cancer at the age of 56 on December 16, his family worked diligently to make that last wish come true. 
 
 Short's wife booked flights from their home in Phoenix, Arizona, to make their way to Memphis so they could attend the funeral in Bolivar. 
 
 Jay's body had been placed on a flight from Arizona to Memphis on Saturday, December 19, just one day before his funeral. 
 
 "After a long ordeal to get everything taken care of, he (Jay) was finally on a flight Saturday morning and the funeral was scheduled Sunday," Short's wife, Marcia, said. "We booked our flight on Delta also to leave Saturday afternoon. Our three children and I sat on the tarmac at Sky Harbor in Phoenix, Arizona for an hour waiting for the okay to fly due to some damage to the cargo doors." 
 
 The delay caused problems for the family when they reached their connecting flight in St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
 
 "The delay gave us seven minutes to get to the gate. With only two minutes to spare, we got to the gate and the attendant was not at the podium. The sky way was pulling away from the plane," Marcia said. 
 
 She said she and her children began waving to the pilot and the ground crew trying to get their attention. 
 
 "We are pleading for them to not take off. The attendant came out of the sky way and said there was nothing she could do, as the door had already been closed. We continued to plead," Marcia said. "If we did not get on that flight, we would miss the funeral. We had to get to Memphis." 
 
 Marci said she and her son continued waving at the pilots and ground crew while her two daughters stood crying. She said the attendant contacted her supervisor and the supervisor said there was nothing they could do. 
 
 The family was told they would be put on a flight to Atlanta and then they could drive from Atlanta to the funeral in Bolivar, Tennessee. 
 
 "This was not going to work and the plane was still outside the window. My son still waving his arms and pleading with the pilot through the floor to ceiling windows. I was crying and attempting to console my girls when the phone rang," Marcia said. "The pilot was pulling back to the gate to let us board the plane." 
 
 Marci and her family made it to Bolivar and the funeral for her husband of 32 years, thanks to two Delta pilots who turned their plane around for them. 
 
 "These pilots did not have to pull back to the gate," Marcia said. 
 
 As for the reason why the pilots chose to turn around, the family is not sure if they realized the reason the family was upset or not, but are thankful they were led to do something that is almost unheard of in the airline industry. 
 
 "I don't know if they (attendants) told the pilot what was going on. I am assuming the pilots may have called and asked what was going on," Ginger Short, Jay's sister who lives in Bolivar, said. "They just don't do that." 
 
 Although the family does not know the first names of the pilots, they were able to see their names on their ID badges. 
 
 "Pilots Adams and Anderson of flight DL 3955 on December 19, 2015 from MPLS-St Paul to Memphis on Delta Airlines have blessed my family and gave us a gift that no one else could. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and may you both be blessed ten fold," Marcia said. 
 
 Copyright 2015 WMC Action News 5. All rights reserved.
– In the week before Christmas, one Delta Air Lines pilot gave a grieving Arizona family a "gift that no one else could," Tucson News Now reports. Father of three Jay Short died after a battle with lung cancer Dec. 16. Three days later, his family was attempting to fly to Tennessee for the funeral scheduled for the next morning. But a 90-minute delay at the Phoenix airport left them only seven minutes to make their connecting flight in Minnesota, according to ABC News. "This was our last chance to say goodbye to my dad, and if we missed the flight we would [have] missed the funeral," Jay's daughter says. But when they arrived at the gate, the last plane of the day to Memphis was pulling away from the gate. "My son [was] waving his arms and pleading with the pilot through the floor to ceiling windows," News Now quotes Marcia. "I was crying and attempting to console my girls when the phone rang. The pilot was pulling back to the gate to let us board the plane." According to ABC, Capt. Adam Cohen saw the "desperation on their faces" through the gate's windows and decided to turn the plane around. Airline experts point out Cohen could have easily gotten in trouble for the unusual decision, though in this case, Delta has only praised the move. "This is something we’ll take with us, knowing we made a difference," Cohen tells ABC. (Another pilot ordered pizza for his stuck passengers.)