Cathay inspires and empowers employees to deliver exceptional service through its annual Niki and Betsy Awards recognition initiative
- Hong Kong’s home airline encourages its people to bring its ‘Thoughtful’, ‘Progressive’ and ‘Can-Do’ core values to life.
- The annual Niki and Betsy Awards presentation celebrates exemplary employees and motivates others to emulate their success and top-notch services.
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The highest level of professionalism among cabin crew extends beyond a warm, caring attitude and attentiveness. It includes the reassurance conveyed to passengers that they are in good and steady hands in the event of an emergency.
Among these is the annual Niki and Betsy Awards programme, which recognises outstanding behind-the-scenes efforts and exceptional service and care delivered by dedicated employees. At the recent award presentation ceremony held at Cathay City, hundreds of employees from around the world and across all departments gathered to celebrate the awardees amidst an electrifying festive atmosphere.
Thoughtfulness is one of the core values embraced by Cathay employees. The 10 exemplary members of the Inflight Service Team on flight CX764 from Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong in February 2023 received the Thoughtful Award. It’s in honour of their shared team spirit, selflessness, and the outstanding application of knowledge acquired through training, which helped save a passenger’s life during a medical emergency.
As the supposedly routine flight approached its last hour, an observant crew member in the Economy cabin alerted Senior Purser Lilian Hilario that a female Vietnamese passenger in her 30s looked unwell.
The initial hurdle was the language barrier. “The passenger travelled with her family members. I asked them about her condition and if there had been any similar episodes previously. They just replied no,” recalls Lilian. However, the medical knowledge Lilian received in her training told her otherwise. “I immediately paged to see if there was a medical doctor onboard.”
Upon hearing the announcement, Inflight Service Manager Raquel Martin immediately rushed from the Business cabin to the Economy cabin, though she had been preoccupied with wrapping up the service in the Business cabin. “In my head, I knew I needed to assess the passenger’s condition and inform the Captain,” says Raquel. “By this time, the passenger had fallen unconscious. Her eyes rolled up, and she slid off her seat.”
Like second nature, teamwork came into play seamlessly, and all crew members sprang into action within seconds. “I did not even need to give any instruction or prompting; all members stepped up to the extra duties arising from this emergency. They knew exactly which position to fill,” recalls Raquel. With help from the unwell passenger’s brother, Raquel moved the passenger to the door area in the middle section and opened her airway as she lay flat on the floor.
Quick-thinking Raquel made a snap decision to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) herself, demonstrating her grasp of the professional training and a high level of adaptability. Due to the lack of space, Raquel performed the two-person CPR alone.
At this point, the unwell passenger drifted in and out of consciousness as Lilian attached her to an automatic external defibrillator (AED). “She stopped breathing for 10 seconds… my mind told me that it was a life-and-death situation and every second counted,” says Raquel. Lilian added that the AED did not give any further Shock advice but kept on repeating the need for CPR.
After what both Lilian and Raquel acknowledge as the longest 15 minutes of their lives and three cycles of CPR, the passenger regained consciousness and started moving her head. “She said her chest was painful,” Raquel notes.
It fell on Lilian’s shoulders to calm the passenger by staying by her side. “I kept massaging her arms and legs and asked her questions I believed she would understand to keep her awake, like ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ which brought a smile to her face. Later, she asked for some water.” At this point, Lilian sighed with relief because it meant the passenger’s condition had stabilised.
The exceptional professionalism and can-do spirit shared by all team members shone through in this emergency. While half of the team were directly involved in taking care of the unwell passenger, the rest took up extra duties to prepare for landing. Without asking questions, they collaborated and helped move some passengers from Economy to the Business cabin to free up space. Some team members helped clear a passage for the paramedics to go back and forth onboard once the plane had landed. They also seamlessly coordinated with one another to ensure an orderly exit for the other passengers.
The entire time, the team kept a composed demeanour so as not to cause any panic among the other passengers. This was no small feat because many passengers were in a rush to catch their connecting flights.
Raquel counts unexpected experiences like this emergency as part of her journey and motivation. “Where else would you see team members, many of whom worked together as a team for the first time on this flight, just click and collaborate seamlessly in an emergency?” she says. “The teamwork was amazing and we had this confidence and trust in each other. For me, that was one of the best parts of working for Cathay.”
