M'sian woman thanks group of M'sians & S'poreans who let her cut airport security queue to catch flight

A Malaysian woman flying from Kunming, China, to Johor, Malaysia found herself facing a long queue at the airport security with only about 10 minutes left to check in for her flight.

To her surprise, travellers in the queue, who she said mostly held Malaysia and Singapore passports, kindly made way to let her go to the front when they understood her situation.

The woman later posted a photo of the boarding gate on Facebook, suggesting that she was eventually able to catch her flight scheduled for departure at 2:20am.

"Satu Malaysia [One Malaysia]," she wrote. "Turns out it is not just a slogan, but is the spirit of strangers willing to make way for you when you need help most."

The kindness of strangers

In her Jun. 1 Facebook post, user Maggie Ho explained that she had just made it to the airport in the nick of time due to some unforeseen circumstances.

The sight of the long security check queue made her anxious about missing her flight.

When she saw the people in front of her holding Malaysia passports, she decided to ask them if they were catching the same flight as her.

They said they were not. When they learnt the check-in time of her flight, they appeared even more anxious than her.

"Quick, you go ahead," they told her. "You can't miss your flight."

Their kindness did not stop there.

They explained Ho's situation to the people in front of them, and these people passed on the message further down, telling everyone to let Ho pass through first to catch her flight.

"The queue had Chinese and Indian people, most of them Malaysians, and a few friends from Singapore," Ho recalled. "We did not know each other, yet they would help a stranger."

One person also reminded her with concern to tell the security staff about her rushing to catch her flight.

She eventually passed dozens of people to get to the very front of the queue.

Thankful

Ho was deeply moved by the warmth and kindness she received.

"Although I was in a foreign country, I was met with not coldness, but the helping hands of people I had never met," she said.

Before leaving the security check area, she turned and bowed to the group of people in gratitude.

"They only smiled and nodded their heads," she said, "then waved to tell me to quickly board my flight."