Pete Buttigieg Hands Out Snacks On His Delayed Flight In Viral Video—And We Love Him Even More

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was praised after he took it upon himself to personally hand out snacks to passengers after his flight was delayed for over an hour.

The viral video originally shared by Sam Harris, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and CrossFit coach, showed Buttigieg doing so on a flight that was delayed at Chicago's O'Hare Airport—one of the busiest airports in the world. Harris said Buttigieg went down the entire aisle handing out the snacks.

You can see the video below.

Harris said the following in an email to Queerty:

“The flight was leaving Chicago O’Hare and going to Traverse City. United made a last-minute plane change and the plane we were moved to was overweight once everyone was loaded. This was in part because the plane was previously scheduled to go to Memphis and was carrying fuel accordingly."

"United made the call to remove some weight by removing fuel so that we could depart for TVC. That led to a long delay.”

The flight, set to depart at 10:50 a.m. on Saturday, did not take off for more than an hour, according to Harris. Harris said it was a small flight, with only a single flight attendant on board. And when the attendant invited passengers to come to the front of the plane for drinks and snacks, Buttigieg sprung into action.

Harris said:

“The flight was small enough that it only had one flight attendant. Since the main cabin door remained open during the de-fueling operations, the flight attendant could not leave his post at the front of the plane."

"The flight attendant made multiple announcements offering for people to come to the front of the plane for drinks and snacks as they wished. A few people got up to help themselves. Eventually, the Secretary got up and made his way to the front for snacks. He spontaneously grabbed the snack basket and began offering snacks to each guest.”

Noting that Buttigieg went down the entire aisle, Harris said:

“He even ran out and returned for a second trip to make sure he included all passengers. He smiled and made small talk along the way.”

Many praised Buttigieg after the video went viral.

The Department of Transportation did not respond to Queerty's request for comment but Secretary Pete's actions very much speak for themselves.