I was at the Detroit airport, waiting for my flight to Atlanta, looking for a place to setup my laptop. Just adjacent to the gate, there was an information booth and the counter had a nice place for my laptop. As I stood there working, I saw no one working the booth.

And then it happened; a nice middle-aged couple came up to me and asked me a question. My immediate response was a quick apology along with the fact that I was not working the information booth. They lingered near me, availing themselves of the information board just to my right. They were talking with each other and I figured they were likely from Europe, perhaps from the south of France. Clearly, they were trying to figure out where something was located in the terminal. I went back to my typing but quickly lost interest; though I wasn’t intimately familiar with the Detroit airport, I was certainly more knowledgeable about it than they were.

So I said, “I am not an official information representative from the airport, but can I assist you?” They were looking for an airline club that would accept Priority Pass. It turned out, I was a Priority Pass club member and there was an app to lookup clubs in airports around the world. I accessed the app on my phone and quickly learned there was not a Priority Pass club in the Detroit airport. The couple thanked me and moved on, and not thinking much of it, I returned to my work.

A little bit later, a young girl, probably from eastern Europe, needed help finding her gate. I looked at her boarding pass and directed her to the screens that showed the gates. She looked at the board and then started to walk away. I wondered if she successfully located her gate, and she gave me a thumbs up.

Once again, I was back to typing and hardly a minute went by until I was interrupted by another young lady, looking for a place where she could exchange money. I had seen a Travelers Express booth earlier when I exited the tram and told her, “it’s close” and turned to show her.

Dejected, she said, “oh, it’s closed.”

“No,” I exclaimed, “it’s close!” I pointed across the terminal to where the Travelers sign was clearly visible. She excitedly thanked me and went to execute her transaction.

My flight was called and boarding began. As I packed up my computer, a man showed up behind the information desk. “You had some customers come by but I took care of them,” I said.

Perhaps he thought I was being critical of him, because he quickly responded with, “I had to take a woman in a wheelchair to her gate, there was no one from the airline available to assist her.”

While he was off doing a good deed, in his absence, I was able to help four people.

This incident reminded me of a time when I was at the Atlanta airport waiting on an American Airlines flight. I walked up to an information desk, behind which, were standing three uniformed AA employees. I asked a question and one of the woman looked at me like I was the biggest idiot in the world. “Do I look like a gate agent to you?” She asked.

Hmmm, let me think, you have an American Airlines uniform and are standing behind an American Airlines information counter…Yes, I believe you do look like a gate agent to me! Okay, so she was probably a seasoned flight attendant and I offended her by suggesting she was a lowly gate agent. But how was I supposed to know the difference between the gate agent and flight attendant uniforms?

Perhaps none of the information I provided at the information booth was particularly critical; it’s likely that without my help, all four travelers would have eventually learned what I was able to share with them. But I figure if you are standing in the information booth (or near it) and someone needs help, then you should provide whatever help you can. Don’t act rude; smile and enjoy it, you never know what good may come from your altruistic behavior!