She walks fast. She talks even faster. She does not beat around the bush. But everyone at SATS Passenger Services speaks highly of her.
Selene Powlose, Duty Manager, SATS Passenger Services
Selene has been with passenger services for 36 years now. She joined SATS after a short stint in real estate. Since then, she’s done everything: from boarding gate procedures, staff scheduling, and handling day-to-day airport operations across Terminals 1, 2, and 3.
Today, she’s a Duty Manager in charge of two things: deploying customer services agents (CSAs) across flights and managing passenger services for two full-service airlines flying out of Changi to the Americas.
It’s a full-on job. But Selene handles it with ease without losing sight of what matters most: making passenger journeys memorable.
Each day, Selene’s goal is to ensure every flight has enough agents, and that passengers are taken care of, from check-in to boarding and arrival. She also provides support when there are unexpected flight delays or special assistance requirements.
When someone calls in sick or flight changes happen, Selene makes the necessary adjustments. It’s not easy asking someone to cover a shift at the last minute, but she has learnt how to manage it.
Selene looks after a team of around 300 CSAs, a mix of full-time and part-time staff. She knows them by name. She checks in with them regularly. On early morning shifts, she brings them bread or coffee, especially those living alone in Singapore.
“Most of them don’t have someone to make their breakfast, so I include them when I prepare mine,” Selene shares. It’s a simple gesture but deeply appreciated by her colleagues.
In passenger services, that kind of care makes a difference. It lifts morale and sets the mood for the day.
To Selene, customer focus is never about ticking items off a checklist. It’s about ending every interaction with a smile.
And to her, that starts with the team, ensuring everyone feels valued and looked after, even and especially on long days or early shifts. When they do, their willingness to step up shows.
Selene tells story after story that shows just how far CSAs at SATS are willing to go just to make a customer’s day a little better.
Like that time an elderly traveller from India couldn’t get on a flight due to visa issues. He also didn’t speak English, so the team helped him in contacting his family, bought him food and drink, and accompanied him until he could get on a flight home.
There's also a passenger who left his phone in a taxi. The team did everything they could to locate it and made sure he had it in hand before boarding.
Or this teenage boy who was flying alone to the US to visit his grandma. His parents were understandably nervous. So, Selene stayed in touch, sending them updates until the boy made his connecting flight.
Selene has plenty of stories to share, and in every one, she shines the spotlight on her team. Yet, her own impact stands out. She has championed customer focus as a core value amongst CSAs, which earned her the Global Winner for Service Excellence Award at the SATS Global PCEO Awards 2024.
Selene receiving the Global Winner for Service Excellence at SATS Global PCEO Awards 2024
Passengers are touched by these efforts, often even writing to the airlines to commend the staff. But if you ask the CSAs, they will just say, "It’s part of the job,” even though technically, it is not.
Nowhere in their job description does it mention that they must help find a lost phone in a taxi, spend money to buy food for a stranded traveller, or keep worried parents constantly updated.
But they do these things regardless, because they recall what it feels like to also receive kindness. They remember moments when someone, like Selene, had their back, when someone checked in on them, brought them breakfast, or simply noticed they were having a tough day.
So, when it’s their turn at the check-in counter or the boarding gate, they show up with that same empathy. That’s what customer focus looks like at SATS.
And for Selene, she lives by a simple belief: “You cannot pour from an empty cup. Take care of the people first. They will take care of the customers, too.”
