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7 Times Travel Angels Helped Strangers in Need

Travel industry professionals have a tough job.

They deal with stressed out travelers on a daily basis, and in some cases, they are responsible for safely transporting you and your precious cargo from one one destination to another. Honestly, we take them for granted, and with all of the focus on flight delays and lost baggage, we don’t often take time to say thank you.

So, for all of the negative travel stories shared on the internet, we thought it was important to shed a little light on people in the travel world who have gone above and beyond the call of duty this year.

Here are some stories that will warm your heart, and restore your faith in mankind.

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Lending a helping hand

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This flight attendant went above and beyond the call of duty when she helped to feed a passenger. (Photo: Stuff.co.nz)

Flight attendants have many duties during a flight, but the actions of one woman shows that true service goes beyond what’s in your job description.

Mr. Niu is partially paralyzed due to a stroke and uses a wheelchair. In December, the 71-year-old man was flying on Hainan Airlines with his wife, when they were separated so that he could have a seat with more space. However, when meal time rolled around, flight attendant Fan Xuesong noticed him struggling to grip his spoon to feed himself. That’s when she walked over to the man and offered to help.

“When I said I wanted to feed him, he suddenly felt touched and started to cry,” Fan said. “The old man worked hard all his life, did contribute to society, we should be kind to him,” she added.

In photos captured by another passenger, Xuesong can be seen feeding the man and wiping his tears. By the gentle exchange, it’s clear that this is a moment neither of them will soon forget.

A much needed note

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A pilot wrote 32 hand written notes for students who missed a day of school. (Photo: Thinkstock)

An easyJet pilot went above and beyond the call of duty, writing absence notes for 32 students who missed their classes because of flight delays.

Captain Wayne Mott was flying from Cyprus to Gatwick airport in London when the plane encountered a 20-hour delay due to fog. The setback caused the students to miss a day of school, but when they returned to classes, they didn’t arrive empty handed.

Related: We Salute You! 2014’s Yahoo Travel Heroes

Captain Mott wrote notes for each of the children to give to their teachers, and not only were they personalized…they were pretty funny.

“I am very sorry that Joshua was not at school today. He has been involved in a secret mission in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea at very short notice,” Mott wrote in one of the notes. "We hope that this mission will soon be complete and that he will see you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Tuesday morning.”

Well if that if that doesn’t put a smile on your face, we don’t know what will.

A gift from the captain

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Jonah wearing his authentic captain’s hat. (Photo: The Mighty)

Rohnda Monroy was nervous to fly with her son last September. See, Jonah has autism, and flying can make him very nervous. Even so, Jonah LOVES Delta Airlines, and collects anything with the airline’s name written on it.

As they prepared for the flight, Monroy planned snacks and activities to keep Jonah busy, and even gave the crew a little note and candy explaining her situation.

The family took a total of four flights, and on the last one they met Captain Tim Garvin, who let Jonah take a photo in the cockpit. A few weeks after Monroy and her family returned home, they received a package from Captain Garvin. Inside they found a note and an authentic captain’s hat for Jonah.

Immediately placing the hat on his head, Jonah was over the moon about his gift. And for the rest of us, it’s a reminder that one small gesture can brighten the day of a stranger.

Hotel worker saves guest

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Ruben Hernandez sprang into action after a hotel guest suffered a heart attack. (Photo: PR Newswire)

If a stranger dropped to the ground right in front of you, would you know what to do?

In May, Ruben Hernandez had just begun his shift at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City, when he received a call about an unconscious man who wasn’t breathing. After attempting to perform CPR with a co-worker, Hernandez grabbed the automated external defibrillator (AED), and was able to resuscitate the guest and stabilize him until the medics arrived.

That guest is alive this holiday season thanks to the quick thinking of one hotel worker who stepped up to the plate when no one else was around.

A flight attendant to the rescue

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Flight attendants are trained for emergency situations. (Photo: Thinkstock)

On Oct. 21, JetBlue flight 183 was preparing to depart JFK airport in New York, when the flight attendants were alerted to an emergency onboard. In the third row of the plane, a baby was choking, and its parent were struggling to revive the unresponsive child. That’s when the female flight attendant grabbed the baby, patted its back, and got him or her breathing again.

Cabin crew are trained for all kinds of emergency situations, and according to CBS News, this flight attendant said, “The training kicked in and it just took over.”

A doctor onboard assessed the child before a medical personnel met the family at the gate.

As for the flight attendant, she stayed on the plane and continued tending to the other passengers onboard. After all, she was just doing her job.

Airline helps woman visit dying mother

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Laura Genovich was flying with her infant daughter, when a random act of kindness from a stranger helped her through a dark time. (Photo: Getty Images)

During one of the most stressful moments of her life, a Michigan woman says she experienced the most “incredible generosity” from a stranger and an airline.

On the day after Thanksgiving, Laura Genovich and her three-month-old baby boarded an American Airlines flight to be by the bedside of her mother in Orlando, Fla. Her mother had suffered a stroke, and with news that she might not wake up, Genovich wanted to be with her.

Related: Hero: This Hotel Manager Saved 300 People During Katrina

That flight ended up getting canceled, but Genovich noticed that Southwest Airlines had a flight departing in 20 minutes. A stranger named Linda helped to carry her bags, and Genovich sprinted to the nearby gate in an attempt to make the flight. When she arrived, the plane had boarded, and the door was closed.

But that wasn’t the end. The gate agent named Gayle listened to Genovich’s story and agreed to let her on the plane if she paid $400 for a ticket. Just then, Linda (the woman she had just met) offered to pay for the ticket, as a random act of kindness. With that, Genovich was able to fly to Florida to be with her mother.

Laura Genovich lost her mother on Dec. 3, but is thankful for the extra time they got to spend together as a result of the kindness of strangers.

Hotel recreates a memorable night

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To celebrate their anniversary, a couple received the same hotel rate they got in 1947. (Photo: Thinkstock)

Rev. Charles Hamlin and his wife Frances stayed at the Poinsett hotel in Greenvile, S.C. 68 years ago. It was their wedding night, and the room cost them $8 — a figure that Hamlin recalls was a bit pricey for him in 1947.

The Hamilin’s haven’t been back to the hotel since, and in Nov., decided to celebrate their 68th wedding anniversary by revising a blast from the past. They kept the original receipt from their first stay, and showed it to the hotel when they were checking in.

Touched by their story, John Geddes, the Westin Poinsett’s director of sales and marketing, says that the hotel wanted waive the $250-$300 a night rate, and give the couple a free room. But instead, they decided to do something a little more memorable.

"Just for fun we’re charging $8,” Geddes told the Associated Press. “We wanted to replicate that as part of the experience. It was kind of a no-brainer for us to recreate the magical night.”

WATCH: 5 Airport Hacks You’ve Never Heard Of (That Work!)

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