Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 9, 1994                   TAG: 9409090084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

`IT WAS A GODSEND' TO MISS THIS FLIGHT

"But they couldn't do it. Now I see it was a godsend," St. John said after arriving Thursday night at Roanoke Regional Airport.

St. John, of Chicago, flies through Pittsburgh to Roanoke every two weeks. She takes her children, Will and Fallon Walker, to see their father, who lives in Roanoke.

Thursday's flight, though, was the first time she had used a frequent-flier ticket. Airlines usually save only a few seats on each flight for special ticket holders.

"They said they didn't have any more seats and I would have to take a later flight," she said.

St. John arrived in Roanoke on USAir flight 4025 from Pittsburgh about 9 p.m. Sonia Oberson, of Roanoke, also arrived on that flight. She said she heard about the crash minutes before she boarded the plane in Pittsburgh.

"I heard it on the television and it just terrified me."