Love in Baggage Claim

A tale of two servicemembers, three juggling balls and a hidden engagement ring

By Elise Gomez

Published September 18, 2018

Read Time: 4 mins

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Quick – name the most romantic spot in Pittsburgh to get engaged. The overlook on Mt. Washington? The Jumbotron screen at PNC Park? Among the beautiful flowers of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens? All good choices.

But for 24-year-old Alexis Thomas of New Brighton, nothing beats baggage claim at Pittsburgh International Airport.

e-(1).JPGOn Aug. 6, after a six-month deployment at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar with the Air National Guard, Thomas traveled 20 hours – Qatar to Frankfurt to Baltimore to Newark – to finally reach Pittsburgh.

Exhausted but excited to be home, she stumbled out of the gate at 6:45 that evening to a surprise: her boyfriend, Shane Sullivan, standing a few feet away with a dozen roses, surrounded by members of her family and his. She ran from the jetway and jumped into Sullivan’s arms.

Sullivan and the two families had taken advantage of the MyPITPass Program to meet Alexis at the gate. (PIT is the only airport in the country to allow non-ticketed individuals Airside access for meeting and greeting loved ones.)

“I know how exciting it is to come home from a deployment,” said Sullivan, 29, himself a United States Marine Corps veteran of seven overseas deployments. “I knew she would be excited to see her family. I wanted to make this one special for her.”

As they walked to baggage claim, Thomas had no idea that her boyfriend had planned yet another special surprise.

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Alexis and Shane met five years ago, introduced by mutual friends at New Brighton High School. Just over a year ago, after Thomas came home from college at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the two started dating. They had a lot in common, including a family history of military service.

“My mom was in the Army National Guard growing up, and I wanted to follow in her footsteps,” Thomas said. Coincidentally, her mom had been in the same unit as Sulli