Agree
It's a stretch to label thank-you compliments as 'payment in kind'.
No self respecting medico would seek, expect or demand such 'compliments'.
I doubt if airlines have a written policy of 'compliments'.
Those who entertains such a thought obviously has never gone through medical training / practice where you do thousands of things unprompted / beyond the 'letters of the job description' WITHOUT any thought of compensation (unlike the billings I received from my lawyers).
If you carry the 9 to 5 mentality, you won't last long in the medical professions.
From the NEJM article I quoted earlier, here is another quote which accurately reflects the thinking of the medical professions:
".... Although there is no legal obligation to intervene, we believe that physicians and other health care providers have a moral and professional obligation to act as Good Samaritans...."
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1212052#discussion
The legal obligation to intervene was in reference to a NSW land-based case where the GP was specifically requested to come to the aid of the patient and he refused IIRC.
Whether that principle of NSW law applies when you are out of state / country, did not declare to be a medico, was not in your 'place of employment' would be open to interpretation by the courts IMO.