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We often read and hear comments about customer service and they all seem to be saying the same thing: “customer service is about making the customer happy”.

How do we ensure that our customers are happy? We conduct surveys, we take all sorts of measurement like wait times, process times; we compare the number of complaints to the previous period; and so on.
In the ATS course for AMPAP, one of the objectives of the course is to help us understand the “systemic” nature of our airports and of our roles. I find that “systemic thinking” is also applicable to customer service.

The best way for us to make our customers happy is to make sure that they receive the service that they need, not necessarily always the service that they want. What I mean here is that we must make the effort of understanding better the reasons for people to travel for example. The reasons behind requests for certain services or products.

Only then will we be able to adapt our offering to better suit one customer or one group of customers. For airports to be able to “adapt” their services to individual customers, they must listen to them and understand their intentions, not just what they say they want. For example, an airline complained that their check-in counters were the end of the terminal which meant that their passengers had to walk much further than those of any other airline at that airport.
One way to resolve that specific perceived disadvantage is to look at it with the other characteristics of this particular location. For example, the furthest location could be the one that is the least busy which means that passengers are not struggling with wait queues of other airlines. The counters might be the furthest but they could very well the closest to the baggage room, thus allowing faster processing of the baggage. It could be the closest to the security check point, greatly reducing the walk of the passengers.

In Toronto where I am as I write this little note, the main carrier is at one end of the terminal along with the other major airlines. The international security check point is at the other end of the terminal, some 5 to 10 minutes’ walk. By opposition, the airlines that have their check-in counters at the far end only have international flights and they are 1 or 2 minutes away from the security.

This is just one example of how an airport can promote some characteristics of its customer service.

Can you give us examples of this approach? Join the conversation on the LinkedIn Group

Jean Marc TROTTIER
AMPAP Instructor

The first official board meeting in 2017 happened last week.

The main highlights:

Robert Kennedy was added to the board by the nominating committee

The Officer’s Appointments: Denise Martinez, Chaiperson; David Ciceo, Vice-Chairperson; Robert Kennedy, Vice-Chairperson; Jason Terreri, Secretary; and RJ Steenstra, Treasurer.

Past and upcoming accomplishments were discussed including the reaccreditation and ACI & ICAO’s involvement

The executive committee of the board will meet again later this month.