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[Master thread] What's the best "act of kindness" you've experienced while traveling

[Master thread] What's the best "act of kindness" you've experienced while traveling

Old Jul 5, 2015, 10:02 pm
  #61  
 
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I was a peace corps volunteer in Guatemala. Peace Corps does not give the volunteers a lot of money to live on while living around the world. Every cent, or quetzal, is precious. I was coming back from a date in Guatemala city. My bus was horribly delayed due to a landslide. I ended up missing my last bus to my site in Chichicastenango. I had no money with me at all. This was in the 90s. No ATM or cell help. I just sat at the bus station and was shocked that I had allowed myself to be in this crazy situation. This couple came up to me and asked me if I needed anything. I must have looked like I needed help. I explained my predicament and they offered to let me stay at their home that night. They actually also had a Canadian volunteer who stayed at their house. So the four of us spent the night eating, drinking, and telling crazy travel stories. The next morning I caught my bus to my site. Whenever I would travel through chi-chi I would meet up with them and have lunch, or just sit and talk.
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 8:34 am
  #62  
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Anyone else? There are some great stories in here!
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 11:00 am
  #63  
 
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I was upgraded to business class as a Y passenger for free thanks to my FF status (I assume). I know that it's their only choice when Y is overbooked and J or F isn't, but still. It feels great on a long-haul flight. And it happened on 2 different occasions.
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 11:08 am
  #64  
 
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This past 4th of July weekend. I was in Washington DC and attended the concert dress rehearsal, which is a trial run the day before the actual concert and is open to the public. I was going solo and a sweet family invited me to sit with them and shared their snacks. They treated me as if I was part of their family.
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 11:12 am
  #65  
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I was flying back to school (SJU-MIA-LAX-SJC). Long flight, and I developed a migraine in transit. It was a day flight, and the sunlight coming in from the window was making the pain all that much worse. My stomach grew increasingly queasy, and I had to use the air sickness bag. I almost died from embarrassment. A FA noticed my distress and came over. She took the bag away (I told her I would dispose of it in the bathroom, and she said that was her job and not to worry). She asked if I had a migraine, when I told her I did, she brought a cool rag (I think it was a couple of those warm towels, dipped in cool water), put it on my forehead, pulled the window shade down, and brought me cold water to drink. She helped me get my medication out of my carry-on. She kept checking on me.

A long and terrible flight made bearable by the kindness of a FA who truly cared.
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 7:52 pm
  #66  
 
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Traveling from RDU-LHR-CCU back when BA flew direct to CCU from LHR, I was traveling with my 1 yr old and 3 yrs old. We land in LHR, 2am EST, and park at a remote gate. The 3 yr old is woken up and he starts crying because he wants to go to sleep - why is Mama waking him up and asking him to walk. Meanwhile, I have the diaper bag; the 1yr strapped to me and trying to make the 3 yr old stand up - who is crying, and then proceeds to throw up over himself.

The flight attendant - I will never forget her - picks him up, and carries him down the stairs, into the waiting bus - it is cold outside, she is without her coat - and an absolute angel. I wish I had gotten her name and had gotten her some recognition, but at that point - I was pretty close to tears myself - wondering why I had decided to travel, half way across the world - by myself with two little ones.

In the bus, she had deposited us next to a middle aged woman. Who then holds on to my 3 yr old, and then, when we get to the terminal, carries him through, gets to the main waiting area - finds a quiet place to settle him down, and then continues on her way.

I will never forget both women. It was a traumatic trip - but I dont know what I would have done if these two ladies had not gone out of their way to help me....remember when we landed in CCU - people around me where clapping - excited because their journey was over. I was sitting there with big fat tears rolling down my face - sheer relief that the nightmare was over and done with.

Not exactly an act of kindness - we were at the Great Wall a couple of years ago, hubby had gone ahead to explore and I found a deserted section where I sat down trying to imagine the old days and marvel at the fact that I was experiencing the Wall. A bunch of school girls come by and one of them sits next to me. We smile at each other. Then as she is leaving she gives me a handful of fruit candy. I was so touched by that gesture. Looked through my backpack and give her ...Mints. Had nothing else that I felt she would like. She looks so happy and skipped away, Made my day.

Also in China, at the airport, we were waiting to fly to Xian. We ask someone a question (forget what it was). He gestures he doesnt know English, so we nod and say thanks and sit back down. We see him get up walking around asking something to many people sitting around the area. Finally he and a guy comes up to us. Apparently he was going to each group asking who can speak English, and when he got someone, he brought him over to us. WOW!!! We were floored.

Last edited by Desirees; Jul 24, 2015 at 6:14 am
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 8:41 pm
  #67  
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I've given away upgrades several times, including one on DEN-HNL where I traded seats twice and ended up on E+ rather than F on the UA flight. The purser actually came back and chided me for that move as it confused them during the service.




And there was that time I used my AmEx $200 airline credit to buy all the drinks any passenger ordered on a flight from Anchorage to Honolulu. The look on the FA's face when I tried to explain that I wanted to buy 30+ drinks was a classic.


When I see tourists who appear lost in NYC I'll offer help. Sometimes it is just pointing them in the correct direction. Other times I'll walk with them to their destination and chat along the way. Great stories nearly every time.

n.b. The link above is to my blog or to one which I am a regular contributor. FT rules require that I disclose that in the post.
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 9:58 pm
  #68  
 
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Back when NW was still NW, I booked a flight from MSP>LAX at 6:00AM in order to catch an NH flight to NRT that would leave a 1:00PM.

Well, at 2:00AM, I got a robocall saying that the 8:00AM flight was cancelled, and that I was rebooked on the 10:00AM flight. Well, that was tight, but workable.

So I'm at MSP, and the flight is delayed. It's nearly 11:00AM when we take off.

By the time we were approaching LAX, it was nearly nearly noon, local time, and I had to retrieve luggage and make my way to the international terminal.

The young woman sitting next to me noticed that I was a nervous wreck and asked what was wrong. I explained the situation, and she said, "I know this airport well. I'll run to the ANA desk and tell them you're coming. We'll exchange cell phone numbers, and you can tell me when you have your bags."

So that's what we did. By the time I arrived at the ANA check-in desk, it was something like 20 minutes before the flight. At first, the ANA personnel seemed a bit put out at my lateness, but I explained in Japanese (I'm a translator) what had happened, and that seems to have made a lot of difference. They checked me in with a smile and had one of the counter personnel escort me through the employees' security line, and brought me to the plane literally moments before the doors were closed.

Whew!

Two acts of kindness, and my trip had barely started.
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Old Jul 24, 2015, 5:03 pm
  #69  
 
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Was travelling between Amsterdam and Brussels a few years ago. Took the train. Stop was Brussels Central. I didn't notice an elevator. Lots of stairs from the platform to the upstairs, a carry on and a bigger bag with me. I'm not even 5' tall. Kinda sweating how to do it, but just as I got to the stairs, a lovely gentleman smiled at me and helped me with my larger bag. Was so very grateful for that bit of kindness - I hope he's had lots of good luck and good karma since!!!
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Old Jul 25, 2015, 8:24 am
  #70  
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I had an exceptional act of kindness from the team at the US immigration service in San Diego. I keep our passports in a case that has some currency in it. I cleared immigration and was almost to our home some 30 miles north. We received 3 unidentified calls in rapid succession. We don't answer unidentified calls, but the third one showed a San Diego number and we took it. Somehow, I had managed to drop the case. The calls were from the immigration people. They had the wallet and we could return to claim it. However, we were now 30 miles north and they were closing in 15 minutes. Someone quickly volunteered to meet us on his commute home. We chose a gas station at the off ramp closest to our home. We knew he couldn't accept a thank you of any substantive value, but believed that a $25 Starbucks card would be acceptable. No, he wouldn't even take that. Everything, from tracking us down to bringing it to us, was so incredibly kind.
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Old Jul 25, 2015, 10:22 am
  #71  
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We had a nice one recently. As we were finishing up a European trip, we spent the day on trains from a small town just outside FRA to MXP. It was about eleven hours total, with several train changes throughout the day. Although we were traveling in First class, it was an exhausting day, with a final, hour-long ride on the train from Milan Centrale to MXP.

We then checked into the Sheraton MXP. The check-in desk was a madhouse, and we were told that there would be someone to help with our bags in just a few minutes. This seemed silly at that point. How hard could it be to get to the elevator, go up, and find our room? Well . . . We went up, got off the elevator, and could not figure out which hallway to go down. The layout was confusing, we were tired, and my husband almost went back down to the lobby, feeling stupid.

At that point, a group of conservatively dressed women walked up to us, asking if we needed help. My husband asked if they knew which way to the rooms, since the signage was confusing. They pointed us in the right direction, and then, seeing that I was pushing my suitcase and carry-on alongside my wheelchair while my husband pushed my wheelchair with one hand and his suitcase with the other, offered to help. One of them took my suitcase and carry-on. Another pushed my wheelchair. When I said, "Oh, you don't have to do that," she said, "We do this every day: it's our job." Turns out, they were FAs with Qatar.

I have never flown Qatar, but their kindness and positive attitude that night made a huge impression on me. If this is how they treat strangers off the job, I can't imagine how wonderfully they must treat passengers on-board! My husband and I have decided that if Qatar flies somewhere we are going, we need to take this airline. Funny how, without even being on an ac, those FAs were great ambassadors for their airline.
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Old Jul 25, 2015, 3:54 pm
  #72  
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
I had an exceptional act of kindness from the team at the US immigration service in San Diego. I keep our passports in a case that has some currency in it. I cleared immigration and was almost to our home some 30 miles north. We received 3 unidentified calls in rapid succession. We don't answer unidentified calls, but the third one showed a San Diego number and we took it. Somehow, I had managed to drop the case. The calls were from the immigration people. They had the wallet and we could return to claim it. However, we were now 30 miles north and they were closing in 15 minutes. Someone quickly volunteered to meet us on his commute home. We chose a gas station at the off ramp closest to our home. We knew he couldn't accept a thank you of any substantive value, but believed that a $25 Starbucks card would be acceptable. No, he wouldn't even take that. Everything, from tracking us down to bringing it to us, was so incredibly kind.
I don't get why folks don't answer unidentified calls. Lucky you answered it.
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Old Jul 25, 2015, 5:39 pm
  #73  
 
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Originally Posted by Annalisa12
I don't get why folks don't answer unidentified calls.
Perhaps they experience a higher percentage of spam calls falling under that category?
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Old Jul 30, 2015, 9:43 am
  #74  
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I don't get why folks don't answer unidentified calls.
I never answer calls from an unknown number. If it's important, they'll leave a message. Although if I was traveling in a foreign country I might be tempted to pick up, just in case it was an emergency situation, but if I'm in America I just let it go to voicemail - and then type the number into Google to see what the results are. Sometimes it's my energy company, others is a blood bank or alumni center, but more often than not it is a scam robocaller - which means answering gets me put on a list of valid numbers and increase the number of calls.
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Old Jul 31, 2015, 5:23 am
  #75  
 
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My wife won a trip to the superbowl back in 2011, right around my 30th birthday and a few months after we got engaged. Money was tight at the time (planning a wedding and buying a condo and both of us in grad school) so while the trip included flights, hotels and tickets to the game we almost passed on the trip due to having the pay for food/drinks/cabs in Dallas as well as the approx $1500 in taxes we would owe. We figured it was a once in a lifetime trip and bit the bullet (taking the $ from our wedding budget, which, 4 years later was a great idea).

Wonderful, albeit pricey weekend. After the game we were trying to find a cab headed back to downtown Dallas. There was no formal cab line and private drivers were asking $250, more than we had.

An older couple approaches us and offers us a ride. I know you shouldnt take rides from strangers but they appeared to be in their 60s, drove a nice car with Wisconsin (Packers won that year) plates and a Jesus fish so we figured it would be safe enough.

One of the nicest conversations i've ever had on this hour ride back. They told us about their lives up in Wisconsin, their children and soon to be born granddaughter. We told them about our lives in New York, our upcoming wedding, our planned graduations for later that year, our families back home. Just a very pleasant ride and I was sad to see it end. We exchanged emails and became facebook friends on the drive home.

As they dropped us off, the husband pulled me aside and gave me some advice. Something along the lines of "We've been married for 40 years, we've had some good times, we've had some bad times, but we've almost stayed together. My advice to you for a happy marriage is to never stop appreciating your wife, dont take her for granted (sp?) and always treat her the way you did when you were first dating. He then pulled out $300 and told me to take her to a nice dinner. He wouldnt take no for an answer so we spent that evening having a late dinner at one of the finest restaurants in Dallas (Joe Montana was at the table next to us).

We've exchanged a few emails over the years and met them for lunch when they were in NYC a couple years later. Great people.

We paid it forward last year, riding the subway back home after an Arcade Fire concert in Brooklyn we started talking to a young Scottish couple who were taking their first trip outside the UK and happy to be in NYC. They were staying at a hostel and enjoying the finest street food NYC had to offer. We would up recommending our favorite local restaurant and insisted they go the next night and told them we'd pick up the bill. They were floored and had a wonderful night (La Pulperia on 85th & 2nd in NYC if youre a New Yorker).

Last edited by injera; Jul 31, 2015 at 5:28 am Reason: .
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