Landon, Alexa Bjornson, Ben Padraza, Flight, autism, kind
Ben Padraza helped ease 7-year-old Landon’s anxiety as they sat next to each other on a flight, which was Landon’s first solo trip on an airplane (Picture: KATU)

A kind stranger made friends with a 7-year-old boy with autism who was nervous as he took his first flight alone.

Alexa Bjornson said her son Landon was nervous to take travel solo on the flight from his home Las Vegas to Portland, Oregon, where his father lives – but she was also worried about his seatmate.

Bjnornson said Landon has difficulty traveling and she did not know how he would react alone on the plane, so she wrote a note for Landon to give his neighbor with cash inside.

She told KATU: ‘I thought, how do I make it so whoever’s sitting next to him won’t look at him as a burden but more like, I can help get this kiddo through the day.’

As passengers boarded the plane, Ben Padraza ended up being Landon’s travel companion and he received the note from Alexa before the flight took off.

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Thankfully for both Bjornson and her son, Padraza was understanding and ended up making friends with his young travel companion.

He said: ‘We were cracking jokes, and after a while, he asked me to quit making dad jokes.’

The two passed the time on the flight by playing rock-paper-scissors, joking, and talking. When they landed, Padraza took a photo with Landon and sent it to his mother to let her know her son made it.

Landon, Alexa Bjornson, Ben Padraza, Flight, autism, kind
Bjornson’s post about Padraza’s kindness towards her son was shared over 13,000 times on Facebook (Picture: Facebook)

Bjornson said she was ‘so grateful’ for Padraza’s kindness her ‘heart just dropped’ when she saw the picture.

However, Padraza’s kindness did not stop when the plane landed. Along with the photo, he also told Bjornson that he donated the money in the letter to the Autism Society in honor of Landon.

‘(Landon) did is if we were there yet several times, but he was a great travel buddy…He’s a great kid and you’re a lucky mom,’ Padraza wrote.

As for Landon, when asked if he made a new friend on the flight, he replied ‘yeah, I did.’