ASEAN HEADLINE-TRAVEL | SIA steward who helped elderly passenger travelling alone wins service excellence award
(From left) Customer services agent at SIA New York, Noble Shaji; Chief stewardess Ng Wei ling; and Flight steward Maverick Lim. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
SINGAPORE – Following a flight from Auckland to Singapore in February 2023, Mr Maverick Lim was asked to help a German passenger on board who was scheduled to catch a connecting flight to Frankfurt. The elderly man was on his first trip abroad in five years since the death of his wife.
Mr Lim, a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight steward, was the only German-speaking crew member on the flight. The passenger he was asked to help had discovered that his flight from Singapore to Frankfurt two days later had been cancelled because of a planned strike at Frankfurt Airport.
The strike on Feb 17, 2023, at seven German airports by unionised workers seeking higher wages, resulted in around 2,340 flight cancellations and affected roughly 295,000 passengers.
In the hours that followed, Mr Lim, 30, went beyond the call of duty to see the passenger safely to his hotel in Singapore and back to the airport the next morning for his new connection.
For his service, Mr Lim was one of 78 individuals and teams lauded at the annual SIA CEO Service Excellence Awards on July 11 at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore hotel.
Speaking to The Straits Times by phone on July 10, Mr Lim, who joined the airline in 2016 after National Service, said the German man, who he believed had emigrated to New Zealand, was travelling alone.
Having studied German since 2019, Mr Lim has intermediate proficiency in the language and could converse with the man, who hardly spoke English.
The man, in his 70s or 80s, appeared lost as his late wife had handled all the paperwork when they travelled. Since her death, he had not left New Zealand.
Once their flight from Auckland arrived in Changi, Mr Lim helped him to rebook a flight to Frankfurt for the next morning.
Mr Lim also helped carry the passenger’s bags and even accompanied him to his hotel in Bugis.
The next morning, he went from his home in Jurong to help the man check out of the hotel and accompanied him to Changi Airport. There, he asked the ground crew to assist the passenger to the boarding gate and informed cabin crew members on the flight that the man would require help from ground staff at Frankfurt Airport.
He also contacted the man’s daughter in New Zealand and gave her updates via messaging service WhatsApp. He was relieved to hear from her later that her father had safely arrived at his Frankfurt lodgings.
A colleague on board the flight from Auckland alerted the airline to Mr Lim’s kind act.
Asked about the deed, Mr Lim said lending a hand was something he had to do. “Life is never smooth sailing, and everyone will require a helping hand at some point in time.”
Mr Lim stayed in touch with the elderly man for a short while after, and the two planned to meet while the steward was in Frankfurt. But the meeting had to be cancelled as the man was busy.
Another crew member who received the award on July 11 was SIA chief stewardess Ng Wei Ling.
Ms Ng, 42, discovered that an elderly American passenger had fainted three to four hours into a flight from Singapore to Los Angeles in June 2023.
With another cabin crew member, she helped the woman, in her 70s or 80s, change out of the garments she had soiled and offered the passenger a spare loose-fitting dress of her own, which she told the passenger she did not need returned.
The woman’s husband later wrote to the airline commending Ms Ng.
This was to be their last flight as the woman’s fainting spells, caused by low blood sugar levels, made it difficult for them to travel, the husband told Ms Ng.
Asked about going the extra mile, Ms Ng said she believed in “paying it forward”.
“You would also wish that someone would help your family members if something like that happened to them,” she added.
Mr Noble Shaji, an SIA customer services agent based in New York, was also recognised at the ceremony.
When an SIA customer suffered a seizure before his night flight in January 2023 and was taken to a nearby hospital, Mr Shaji, 25, took his belongings to the hospital.
The man, who was in his 60s, was eager to resume his journey as soon as possible, so Mr Shaji helped to rebook him on a flight the following morning.
After doctors said the man needed a specific medicine that the hospital did not have to be able to travel, Mr Shaji drove for hours to find a 24-hour pharmacy carrying the drug, which he bought and delivered to the hospital.
“He was travelling by himself, and since he was unwell, I decided to help him,” he said.
Correction note: An earlier version of this story stated that the daughter of the elderly German passenger had written to SIA to commend Mr Maverick Lim. It was a colleague aboard the same flight who had done so.
