On September 5, 1986, Neerja was just two days away from her 23rd birthday. She was working her first flight as head purser on Pan Am Flight 73 when it was hijacked on the ground in Pakistan by four armed men. It was thanks to Neerja's lightning-quick thinking that the cockpit was warned and the pilots were able to escape — as is protocol — leaving the hijackers with no way to fly the plane. She also hid the passports of 41 American passengers so that the hijackers could not target them as intended; hiding some under seats and throwing...
