Lately I’ve been the victim of travel delays. It took me 36 hours to return home on a recent trip to the Caribbean; mainly because of airline delays. And just this week I spent 12 hours getting from the Midwest to the West Coast. These experiences got me thinking a bit about customer service and what the passengers coming through your airports really want.
First, while I love the quality and variety of food in airports today, there are definitely not enough grab-and-go food options for travelers racing from one gate to another. The lines at the ones that do exist can be considerable too, which is not at all useful when time is at a premium.
Frequently airports seem to lack enough restrooms for the passenger populace as well. When the line stretches out the door—as it often does—passengers have to wait till they get on a plane.
When you are running--and yes, I was running in my recent travel experiences—from one gate to another, you need to be able to purchase food and use the restroom in minutes. On my 36-hour junket, I didn’t eat for nearly 20 hours because I lacked the time to grab food before catching my next flight. This is a huge problem for travelers--remember, airlines no longer serve food.
Two examples of great customer service occurred on my return trip back from the Caribbean. While neither happened at the airport, both made me feel better about my journey. On an American Airlines flight, I asked to buy a snack but they were out of them. The flight attendant rummaged around and found something for me to eat—free of charge, saying I looked like I needed it. The other instance happened at O’Hare International’s on-airport hotel. The person checking me into the hotel heard that my baggage hadn’t made it and without a word filled a bag with an apple, a granola bar, water and toiletries. Now this is customer service!
This level of customer service is attainable at the airport as well through the use of business intelligence, says David Chambers, vice president of North American Sales for SITA. Chambers says airports struggle with business intelligence but adds that business intelligence data can help facilities boost their customer service. It can help get passengers through security more quickly, direct them to restaurants and retail outlets, and get them to their gates efficiently.
Not only that, but passengers, who experience less stress from the parking garage to their gates, spend more money at the airport. Halifax Airport’s Paul Baxter recently told Travel Retail Business that the more stress-free the airport environment can become the more retail/concessions spend airports can expect to see. “Retail spend definitely falls off if passengers have a negative experience,” agrees Chambers.
So use the data you have to simplify the parking process, lessen time spent in security queues, direct passengers efficiently to their gates, and provide enough restrooms as well as retail/concessions outlets. Boosting customer service reduces traveler anxiety, which in turn leads to happier customers and increases in non-aeronautical revenue—both things airports can use.
While you can’t control travel delays, you can control customer satisfaction. And passengers like me will thank you for it.
