We’re looking for a lady named Tracy from Minnesota. She and her friend were seated on May 31st 1999 next to two Yugoslavian refugee sisters on KLM 655 flight from Amsterdam to the Twin Cities Minneapolis-Saint Paul. The Yugoslavian sisters were 17 and 12 years old at the time, fleeing a country in despair.

During the flight the four talked and the oldest sister who only spoke English explained the situation they left behind. Right before they disembarked, the girls received an envelope and were told not to open it until they left the plane. In the envelope, they found a message from Tracy, a $100 bill and some golden earrings.

The note

The letter written by Tracy on May 31st 1999 for the two sisters.

“To: The girls from Yugoslavia, I am so sorry that the bombing of your country has caused your family any problems. I hope your stay in America will be a safe & happy one for you — welcome to America — please use this to help you here — : ) a friend from the plane — Tracy ”

Now, years later, the sisters are successful college graduates who found a new life in the United States. Never forgetting about the generosity they received, they’ve held on to the note as a symbolic token of good things happening in the world. They want to thank Tracy personally for the significant difference she made in a dark time during their lives.

On a quest

Since we’ve been told about this remarkable story via a tweet which lead us to an article in Star Tribune, we’ve been trying to help the two find Tracy’s full name. Unfortunately, our archive doesn’t contain any passenger data from 1999. So now we’re looking to extend this quest via you, in our social networks.

What we know from Tracy up until now:

Tracy was flying from Amsterdam to Minneapolis-Saint Paul on May 31st 1999 with a friend

The flight number was KL655

She probably lived a couple of hours away from the airport, we’re assuming in Minnesota

She played tennis in Paris

If you know Tracy from Minnesota, or anyone you know happened to be on that plane from Amsterdam to Minneapolis-Saint Paul on May 31st 1999 – and knows anything that could lead us further: we would love to hear from you. Please e-mail us at socialmediainput@klm.com.