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A Little Attention Can Go A Long Way To Prevent Annoying Delays At Baggage Claim
By John Goglia - Tuesday March 12, 2013Among all the delays that passengers find annoying – right up there with long security lines – are the waits to pick up checked bags. Especially when passengers now pay a fee for the privilege of checking those bags. Your flight has ended and you just want to get home or to your meeting or whatever your next destination is. But you’re waiting, and sometimes waiting for half hour or more, for your bag to show up. Well, bad enough is the normal wait time for a checked bag, but to then be waiting because of a preventable baggage jam clogging the chute is truly annoying. Yes, I just experienced that at LAX, coming back from a very long flight from China. The last thing I wanted to do was wait around longer than usual for my bag... -
Customer Service Tip
By ServiceElements, Christine Hill - Wednesday March 6, 2013Customer Service is an abstract term. This is a real challenge for today’s organizations in creating customer service standards that are genuine for their customers. For managers and leaders who want to improve the service delivery of their organization, it is imperative to define the service expectations in concrete terms. Utilize real life scenarios as examples of what actions constitute good service and what actions would be bad service. -
See You Next Week In Vegas
By Steve Smith - Tuesday March 5, 2013We’ll be holding our AviationPros Live trade show and conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center, March 13-14. Here’s all you need to know about the GSE-related events: Seminars Wednesday, March 13 11 a.m.-12 noon Electric GSE Funding Speaker: Neal Wolfe, LeighFisher Funding through the FAA’s Voluntary Airport Low Emission Program may be the well-proven method to invest in electric ground support equipment. However, VALE is not the only funding source available. Learn about other various state and local funding initiatives that ground support professionals and airlines can directly use to purchase electric GSE or use to augment an airport’s VALE project. Neal Wolfe is a senior consultant with LeighFisher, an... -
The Aircraft Maintenance Profession Loses a Friend
By Ronald Donner - Wednesday February 27, 2013
The last time I visited Denver, CO, we celebrated Tom Hendershot’s induction into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame. Today my visit is to attend Tom’s funeral. We were all saddened to hear of the recent passing of aircraft maintenance professional’s staunchest supporter, Tom Hendershot, on Feb. 22, 2013. I knew Tom only a short three years. He was the consummate professional and gentlemen and will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and industry peers alike. While Tom Hendershot may have “slipped the surly bonds of earth,” his spirit and legacy to the many organizations and the countless thousands of AMTs he has met over his 57 years in aviation live on forever. As Executive Director for AMTSociety, Tom guided and... -
Will We Survive Sequestration?
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday February 27, 2013To hear the alarmists scream, sequestration will be worse than an earthquake combined with a half-dozen tsunamis, a full-scale war and a dust bowl thrown in to boot. What are they talking about? Sequestration cuts will amount to less than 3% of federal spending. (I’ve read percentage rates ranging from 2.4% to “less than 3%.”) How in the world is a cut of less than 3% going to devastate airports, hospitals, police forces, schools, and emergency workers? Breathes there a soul who doesn’t think they could find 3% waste in any — repeat, any —govmint operation? Tomorrow? I can’t see it. When it comes to undue panic, Chicken Little is a piker compared to this administration. One thing’s for sure, we’ll know within a few... -
Creating an Organization that is Truly Customer Service Focused
By ServiceElements, Christine Hill - Tuesday February 26, 2013Customer service has many connotations. Some people associate it with restaurant or retail companies. Others associate it with someone who deals directly with a customer. Still, other people think of someone answering a phone at a call center. Though the perceptions of customer service vary, standout organizations DO make customer service a central strategy to differentiate them from the competition. This is true for companies ranging from WholeFoods to Google — and it is more important in the aviation industry than ever before. Think about these questions: What will differentiate one airline or aircraft management company from another? How will an airport signal ongoing business value to its executive passengers? Should... -
Happy Birthday To Us!
By Steve Smith - Tuesday February 26, 2013We published our first issue 20 years ago this month. To celebrate our cover story is on the history of GSE. I bet you didn’t know that we can trace the family tree back to 1705, but a member of the Goldhofer family started a forge not far from today’s corporate headquarters. We’re also planning a special display at next month’s Aviation Pros LIVE, March 13-14 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Plus, we’ll be joined by Capt. Chuck Maire, the chairman of the National Museum of Commercial Aviation , which is in the process of organizing a GSE history exhibit of its own. Here are a few important dates in our history: 1883 – John Bean invents a continuous spray pump to battle bugs on his 10-acre almond orchard. Neighboring... -
Battery Myth No. 2
By Todd Allen - Tuesday February 26, 2013
TRUE OR FALSE : Cold weather is bad for batteries. FALSE : Batteries like the cold. Lower average battery temperature means longer life expectancy. A typical baggage tractor battery weighs well over 3,000 pounds, which is too much mass to lower the internal temperature over the course of a day or two. Hopefully, the battery is being used and charged, which generates heat and maintains temperature. And even if the internal temperature drops, the electrolyte in a charged battery will not freeze. So in most cases, even freezing temperatures don’t make any difference at all, and possibly they even help. There is some bad news, however: Lower internal battery temperature means lower capacity : A cold battery could deliver as... -
Remembering the Basics
By ServiceElements, Christine Hill - Tuesday February 19, 2013Service is an area where a business can clearly set itself apart from the competition -- even in aviation … especially in aviation. By providing truly exceptional customer service to customers, organizations are realizing that they can increase their value in the eyes of those customers. There are now metrics and complicated standard operating procedures to measure and ensure the best possible service. But, in the words of Leonardo DaVinci, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” It is a good time to revisit the basics -- what brought us to where we are today. Customer service has been a formal cornerstone of competitiveness for well over 30 years. Though the nuances of how customer service may be delivered across...