Shilla employee at Changi Airport helps distressed mum and daughter for weeks: ‘They do not have anyone here’
For Tracy Pham Quyen Tran, helping people comes naturally.
The 29-year-old works as a sales executive at The Shilla Duty Free Shop in Changi Airport, but often goes beyond the call of duty to assist others.
“Service, to me, is allowing someone in need to feel more at ease and not alone,” the Ho Chi Minh native told Stomp.
And that has never been more apparent than in the early hours of Aug 4, 2025, when Tracy went out of her way to help a Vietnamese mother and daughter in distress.
Going the extra mile time and time again
Airport staff had come across the pair struggling to order food at Terminal 3’s transit food court. Due to a language barrier, they called Tracy for help.
Noticing the daughter was unwell, Tracy paid for their meal and got them settled down at a quiet table. That was when the mother confided in Tracy about her daughter’s struggles with severe depression. The pair, who were travelling from Australia to Vietnam, had a 14-hour layover in Singapore.
“I shared with them the flight schedule and offered to put them up at the airport hotel, but they declined,” Tracy said. “So I told them I would return to my store first and they could come and find me if they needed anything.”
About an hour later, Tracy received a call informing her that the daughter had “run away” and her help was needed once again.
“I went out and I saw the mother running towards me, barefoot and crying,” she said.
“I calmed her down and brought her to the information counter because I realised the situation was quite serious and more than what I could handle myself.”
After searching “every corner of the terminal” with airport police, the daughter was eventually found at the boarding gate in a distressed state.
“I stayed to help and comfort the mother because she was crying a lot,” said Tracy. “When the medical team came, the daughter was shaking and not standing still. She was leaning on her mother like she could faint anytime. Her mother had to carry her and their belongings.”
Tracy also helped communicate with the airport police and medical staff until the daughter was safely transferred to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for treatment.
But her care did not end there.
In the weeks that followed, Tracy stayed in contact with the mother and their assigned social worker as the daughter received treatment in Singapore.
With the daughter unfit to fly and the mother’s visa-free stay ending, Tracy worked with airline partners to arrange a new flight and personally escorted the mother to her departure gate. She also continued checking up on them over the next month and a half, until they were safely reunited in Hanoi.
‘I don’t think, I just do it’
When asked why she continued to keep in touch with them, Tracy told Stomp: “Because I think they do not have anyone here in Singapore and would have struggled a lot.”
While she is no stranger to helping others in her line of work, Tracy admitted that this incident was “especially different” because of the sheer effort it took. However, she never felt like it was a burden.
“When I help people, I don’t think about what I’m going to lose or what I’m going to get. I just do it,” she added.
Initially reluctant to share her story, Tracy agreed to do so at the encouragement of her colleagues and supervisor.
For her compassion, care and professionalism, she received a letter of commendation from IMH and was named Changi Airport’s ‘Service Personality of the Year’.
On April 24, she was also presented with a Stomp Goody Bag.
Despite the recognition, Tracy said she finds the attention “too much”.
She said: “I feel very honoured. I didn’t think it would go this far, really. I didn’t expect anything at all. Because for me, helping people is a normal thing. I don’t need to be recognised for it.”
A job with highs and lows
Tracy said she enjoys meeting people from different countries and learning new things — especially as this is her first overseas job.
However, the role also comes with challenges. Besides a long commute, 7am to 7pm shifts and keeping an “odd” schedule, Tracy also has to deal with difficult and sometimes even verbally abusive customers.
She recalled an incident where a customer became upset after discovering an item he saw on iShopChangi was only available online and not at the store.
Tracy recounted: “He started to yell at me, saying, ‘You guys are scammers. It shows that it’s available in your shop and now I walk in, you say it’s not available.’ Then he threw a tantrum and kept calling us scammers.”
The situation was diffused after Tracy explained the difference between the online platform and in-store offerings. The man eventually calmed down and purchased something else.
Her calmness, professionalism and empathy is how she approaches work and life.
“Don’t think that you come here to work as a salesperson and then you only do the sales and that’s it,” Tracy said.
“Because you never know – one day you step outside and your little help to someone might affect them deeply. Your small actions can have a big effect on a person.”
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