SINGAPORE — Extraordinary service rendered up in the air has been making headlines recently.

For example, that picture of Singapore Airlines flight attendant Karen Choong cutting apples to assist a diabetic 92-year-old Slovenian lady went viral earlier this month. Last December, photos showing a flight attendant from China’s Hainan Airlines, Fan Xuesong, kneeling down to feed a 71-year-old Mr Niu (who had difficulty feeding himself due to a recent stroke) flooded Chinese social media.

More recently in April, Asiana Airlines chief flight attendant Kim I-Cheol saved a two-year-old girl by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) when she became unconscious after food got stuck in her throat.

Exceptional service like these examples may seem to be the exception rather than the norm, but for Muhammad Ali Faizal Abdul Rahman, who was among the four recipients honoured in the category of Service in the Air at Singapore Airlines’ CEO (TCS) Transforming Customer Service Awards Ceremony on Friday evening (May 20), it’s all in a day’s work.

The 47-year-old chief flight attendant bagged the award for the outstanding care he provided to 90-year-old Thomas Patrick Lennon Sr, who incidentally was the cousin of music legend John Lennon. When Mr Lennon started having breathing problems during the flight from Munich to Singapore last September, Faizal stepped in immediately to provide him with supplementary bottles of oxygen. He also massaged Mr Lennon’s feet, head and arms, after requesting permission from the elderly man and his two daughters who were travelling with him.

“I was caring for my mother who had Alzheimer’s before she passed away last year — I know how distressing it is to see an elderly person suffer,” said Faizal. “I just wanted to make him feel comfortable and help his daughters, who were also very agitated then.”

After the flight landed in Singapore, Faizal went on to accompany Mr Lennon and his daughters to Changi General Hospital (CGH) and stayed on while Mr Lennon was in the Accident and Emergency Department. He further assisted the family by getting accommodation for Mr Lennon’s daughters at Capri by Frasers, which was near CGH.

Unfortunately, Mr Lennon passed away in Singapore before he could make it back home to Brisbane. “I was in Japan when I heard about Mr Lennon’s death, but I managed to catch his daughters at the airport before they departed for Brisbane,” said Faizal. He also took the chance to visit Mr Lennon’s grave on his next flight to Brisbane to pay his last respects.

Faizal doesn’t think what he did was extraordinary, preferring to think of it as “what you would do for someone in need”. And the man, who has been with Singapore Airlines for the last 23 years, even counts several of the passengers he has served as personal friends now — including Mr Lennon’s daughters. “They tell me I’m like family to them now, and I’ve to come stay with them in Brisbane when I can.”