CXE BLOG

Skytrax, an airport industry research company, has recently named our partners at LAX one of the top 10 most-improved airports in the world! It's great to see that their emphasis on delivering the "gold-standard" experience is being recognized by passengers!

Last month, February, is filled with many reasons to be happy. The obvious falls on February 14^th, when love abounds and kindness comes easy.  Other February days that embrace and share happiness are National Pizza Day (2/9), National Love Your Pet Day (2/20), and National Clam Chowder Day (2/25) just to name a few! The Westfield team at Newark Liberty International Airport took happiness to the next level last month.  Training EWR employees to be secret agents of kindness, these exuberant agents-of-surprise delighted airport guests with random acts of kindness.

The Customer Service Experts team is excited to attend the 2017 Airport Revenue News (ARN) Conference, in New Orleans, LA, from March 12-15, where the airport industry meets to network and learn about the latest trends.  ARN offers countless opportunities to gather feedback on customer service experiences from airport executives, commercial property managers, and concessions decision-makers and features four days of informative and interactive sessions. 

How far can a smile travel?  In 1990, the first American customer service driven smile traveled almost 5000 miles, took root, and stayed.  With the opening of the first McDonald’s in Moscow, standard corporate training on how employees can create a successful customer experience was first introduced.  Step one?  Smile.  Where being stoic had been the customer service norm, this newfangled, unprecedented training gave Russian employees and customers an emotional culture never before seen.  In the politically tumultuous nineties, the McDonald’s in Moscow became an “island of light and humanity in a dark time.”

Welcome to CSE on the Fly, a question and answer forum where we ask industry leaders compelling questions to understand the roots, development, and growth of exceptional customer service.

A positive customer airport experience starts well before getting to the terminal.  Whether traveler or employee, efficient and safe roadway operations are critical to an airport's success. All airport visitors expect safe and efficient roadway operations even as volumes increase, but often the design and capacity of the terminal and landside infrastructure cannot maintain those expectations.  

Recomposure area (noun):  an area found at the boundaries of TSA security where one can restore composure or calmness.

Last week while traveling to LAX, I found myself outside the TSA security area leaning against an airport directory trying to fix my sandal strap.  In front of me were a half dozen people juggling carry ons and briefcases, trying to “readjust”themselves post-secuity, with purse straps sliding off shoulders and cell phones tumbling to the floor through open-weave benches. All this “readjustment”happening just as anxiety ramps up to get to our gate on time.  UGH.  No wonder why they call this a “pain point”in travel.

Customer Service Experts' Annual Airport Customer Service Survey has arrived!

Each year, the team from CSE attends the Airport Revenue News (ARN) Conference, where the airport industry meets to network and learn about the latest trends.  ARN offers countless opportunities to gather feedback on customer service experiences from airport executives, commercial property managers, CEOs, concession decision-makers, and business development directors.  For the last three years, CSE has gathered data from ARN attendees to help clearly define the passenger experience both landside and airside, and illustrate the importance of preparing employees to deliver exemplary customer service.

In 2014, over 700 million passengers traveled through airports in North America and those travelers spent over $900 billion on concessions.  Check out ARN’s breakdown of their spending in top North American airports: 

2014 Food and Beverage - $5 billion
2014 Duty Free and Specialty Retail - $2.5 billion
2014 News and Gift - $1.5 billion

With this amount of spending, the importance of training employees to deliver an outstanding airport experience becomes instantly apparent.

So what did we learn this year when talking to ARN attendees about the importance of outstanding customer service?  Check out our 2016 infographic summary where 98% of those surveyed said employee skills are important in delivering a great airport experience and 81% said they believed employee service skills impacted passenger purchasing decisions!  With that landside information, we at CSE are even more motivated to help you define your vision for your airport passenger experience and help you design a strategic customer service program.