Family members of a slain Fort Hood soldier were booed on a flight they were taking to go retrieve his remains, according to The Sacramento Bee.

Sgt. John Perry, a 30-year-old father of two, was killed Nov. 12 by a suicide bomber on Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Fort Hood soldier Pfc. Tyle Iubelt and two other American contractors were also killed in the attack.

U.S. Army Sgt. John W. Perry of Stockton, Calif. ((AP Photo / Department of Defense))

Perry's father, mother and sister were flying from Sacramento to Philadelphia to retrieve his remains in Delaware, but their flight from Sacramento was 45 minutes behind schedule.

The flight crew worried the delay would cause the family to miss their connecting flight in Phoenix and prevent them from being there when Perry's remains arrived at Dover Air Force Base.

When the plane arrived in Arizona, the captain asked everyone on board to let the "special military family" off first so they could catch their next flight.

As the Perry family made their way off the plane from their first-class seats, other passengers began to complain and boo them, said the slain soldier's father, Stewart Perry.

Perry said, "Some people were saying, 'This is just baloney,' and 'I paid for first-class for this?'"

The soldier's father, who is a Marine veteran, said he doesn't know if the passengers on the flight knew they were a Gold Star family, but he believes they did since one passenger tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he was the father of the soldier who was killed in Afghanistan.

"It was just disgusting behavior from people in first class; it was terrible to see," Perry said. "You could see the disappointment from the flight crew."

The passengers' focus, said Perry, should have been on the heroism of his son who confronted the suicide bomber before he could reach his target -- a soldiers' 5K Veterans Day run.

"He made a decision that saved a lot of people," Perry said. "I was told that he was found protecting a female soldier. ... He didn't get to live a full life, but he lived."

The Perry family eventually made their connecting flight thanks to the pilot in Phoenix who waited at the gate for 40 minutes for them.

Perry said American Airlines "did everything they could" to accommodate his family, but he was disappointed to see how the passengers treated them.

Sgt. Perry was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood.

He was at the base in Afghanistan to support Operation Freedom Sentinel. Perry will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.