Airport service staff solve problems big and small Ground crew rising star ensures passengers depart with peace of mind

Handling more than 160,000 travellers from around the world every day, Hong Kong International Airport is one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs. The Airport Authority’s experienced customer services supervisors, Casper Tjong and Peter Chan, provide travellers with reassuring company as they navigate their journeys with concerns. Together, they tackle a wide range of travel challenges with energy and empathy, easing concerns and restoring smiles on passengers’ face before they board their flights.

On the frontlines for Cathay Pacific, Benny Wong Tsz-wai –  a rising star of the airline’s ground crew – sees himself as the first helping hand travellers encounter in Hong Kong. Always ready with a friendly greeting, he once went as far as to persuade and personally escort an ailing elderly passenger to the hospital, showing maturity and thoughtfulness far beyond his three years in the job.

Benny recalled a night in March when an elderly US passenger, arriving from Manila and bound for a red-eye flight to Los Angeles, looked pale and could barely walk.

After helping him into a wheelchair and onto the aircraft, Benny heard the man cry out for help in the plane’s lavatory. Without hesitation, he rushed in, fetched clean clothes from colleagues, and helped him clean up.

Concerned about the passenger’s health and thought that he should not continue his journey, Benny explained the risks until the man agreed to go to the A&E at a hospital nearby.

“The passenger was shaken back then. He thought he could handle the situation himself, especially when he was eager to go home so badly,” Benny says.

He then accompanied him during his medical consultation, completed the admission procedures for him until his condition became stable, and exchanged contact info with the passenger. It was 3am at that time. Benny was relieved when he saw the man’s condition improve.

“I assured him that he had nothing to worry about, his luggage was safe with me and we could arrange a flight for him once he was fit to fly again,” Benny says.

“We met again a few days later at the airport. I also arranged a pickup service for him in Los Angeles.” The feeling when Benny saw him walk unaided was greater than getting a ‘thank you’.

What Peter, the Airport Authority’s senior operation officer in customer service, fondly remembers over his 11 years of experience involves an elderly woman from Belgium bound for the mainland to visit her relatives. She had missed her connection and was stranded at the airport for four days.

“The woman was quite senior and needed her diabetes medication. She also got sleepy easily. We arranged for her to rest in the care corner right next to the service desk so that it would be more convenient for our colleagues to look after her,” Peter says.

In addition to helping her book a new ticket, Peter and colleagues regularly brought water, hot food and blankets to the stranded old lady, and kept her company – day and night.

Realising that she was running out of her prescriptions, Peter went to a pharmacy to consult a registered pharmacist and got her the exact medication she needed.

“She was very happy. She didn’t want to trouble us, but without the medication, she would have had a headache,” Peter adds.

In the end, she continued her journey smoothly, telling Peter’s colleagues on-duty to convey her thanks to him.

Fellow senior operation officer Casper, who has been Peter’s partner for five years, once encountered an Australian woman who missed her flight and had no cash or a credit card.

From 10am that day, Casper made multiple international calls and sent emails to banks and travel agencies in Australia and New Zealand. By the time funds were remitted and a seat was secured, it was already 5pm.

Even for someone as experienced as Casper, it was quite a challenge. “During the process, the local staff kept transferring me to different departments. The case was quite complicated and when it was finally resolved, I felt very satisfied,” she says.

Another time she and Peter worked together to assist a wheelchair-bound elderly woman who had Parkinson’s and dementia.

At the taxi stand, Peter explained the passenger’s situation to drivers one by one so that he could fast-track a taxi with a spacious rear compartment at the back of the taxi queue to cut in and take her home.

Afterwards, the passenger’s family insisted to send his company compliments for his attentiveness.

Peter adds, “We were all very happy. We have never received such a lengthy letter of compliment.”

“You must put yourself in the passenger’s shoes and provide different options for them.”

Peter has come across all kinds of travellers, including many agitated passengers. As someone working in customer service, he is sometimes treated as a punching bag.

Casper also shared the same experiences, and she has a tip on this: “Sometimes they just want to vent, so we talk to them more gently – don’t just say ‘there’s nothing we could do because it’s the rule of the airline’, but explain with patience.”

The two usually share their experiences on different cases with colleagues and encouraged them to be agile when handling requests and demands with innovation, while reflecting on what hospitality and customer services means.

As for the tall Benny, he often runs back and forth, escorting passengers to catch flights at the eleventh hour.

“The biggest challenge is racing against time; sometimes the connecting time is very short. If I cannot get them to the gate in time, they may have to stay behind for another day or two.”

For ground crew, the biggest mission is to help passengers board on time: “That way, the next flight can also return to Hong Kong on time, and passengers can smoothly connect to their onward flights.”

Echoing the ‘New Outstanding Services Award Scheme’ jointly introduced by the Tourism Commission and the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the ‘Praise Quest – Hospitable Hong Kong’ series will share stories of frontline service practitioners in tourism-related sectors with the trade and the public to promote the spirit of hospitality by ‘going the extra mile’ together.