A travel agent has been praised for quick thinking that helped to save the life of a customer on holiday in Peru.
The 32-year-old holidaymaker was honeymooning in Arequipa when he became seriously ill.
He was desperately in need of an emergency blood transfusion but supplies in Arequipa’s local hospital were scarce and time was running out.
Hearing of his customer’s plight on the other side of the world, a Flight Centre agent in Australia issued an appeal for help among colleagues.
It was shared by Donna Hanson, Flight Centre’s director of transformational change, on the company’s Workplace network.
The response was immediate and overwhelming, said Donna.
"It was like wildfire. Everybody started jumping on saying ‘I have a cousin who lives there’, ‘I have a customer who is down there for six months’, ‘I’m calling the airline and asking for help’. People were sharing it on their private social media.
"There were so many people waiting in line, they had a blood supply for a very long time."
The man’s life was eventually saved and the hospital also received enough blood donations for several months’ supply.
"We will never know who the donors were but we do know that many named Flight Centre as the reason they were there," said Sue Henderson, Flight Centre’s retail product manager in Australia.
"I have no doubt that the Workplace messages and the subsequent actions of the FCTG (Flight Centre Travel Group) employees in the USA and Canada definitely spread the word."
