The teenage girl was headed to California, and the man to Oregon. They weren’t supposed to be on the same flight, but their chance encounter came to be widely known and celebrated.

The girl, Clara Daly, 15, and her mother were traveling home to Calabasas, Calif., and had planned to fly nonstop from Boston to Los Angeles. Their flight was canceled, so Alaska Airlines booked them on another flight with a layover in Portland, Ore.

That’s how Clara ended up meeting Tim Cook, 64. Mr. Cook, who is deaf and blind, wasn’t able to communicate easily with the flight attendants.

Another passenger, Lynette Scribner, described in a Facebook post what she saw.

“The flight attendants sincerely wanted to assist him, but had no way to communicate,” she wrote. “I watched as they didn’t flinch when he reached out to touch their faces and arms. They took his hand and tried so hard to communicate with him, to no avail.”