CXE BLOG

Thanksgiving recalls turkey, family, football, and stretch pants.  And if you’re one of the 28.5 million passengers expected to fly this holiday week, we at CSE would like to take some stress out of travel this week by reviewing some new airport strategies for getting to the turkey and stuffing ASAP.

Halloween is a time for tricks and treats, and if you’re lucky enough to be traveling on October 31^st, you might find a little bit of both as you make your way through the airport.  From ticket counters to information desks, airport employees are getting into the spirit of this spooky, zany holiday! 

Hurricane season continues to wreak havoc on airports and travelers across the country.  As thousands of flights are cancelled coast to coast, airports employees who live in impacted areas are not only missing work, but some are missing homes as well.  The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) has set up a relief fund for airport workers impacted by the recent devastation of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

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!

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.”

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.