Airports Are Training Staffs To Be N.i.c.e

By Author: Steve Robinson
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Since cheap travel options, including cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages, are often offered by airlines out of multiple nearby airports, airports are starting to work harder to make traveler lives easier in order to be more competitive.

Los Angeles and Pittsburgh are among a group of airports training customer service representatives to be N.I.C.E. “Neutralize Irritations Customers Experience.” At Fort Wayne International Airport volunteers have been welcoming arriving passengers for over 10 years with free locally baked cookies.

Probably the world’s most innovative airport, Singapore’s Changi Airport, offers a butterfly garden, a rooftop pool, a three story indoor slide, and 500 complimentary Internet kiosks among its award winning amenities. It is also determined to be recognized as the airport offering the best customer service.

Last March Singapore Airport introduced a 90 member team of salaried, iPad toting Changi Experience Agents (CEAs) charged with traveling over the four terminals helping travelers find their way, check-in, transfer, deal with lost luggage and other travel ...
... related issues. Their charge is to anticipate airport customers’ needs and solve any problems.

The program is part of an ongoing emphasis at the airport to provide a “positively surprising experience for all visitors and passengers.”

At most airports travelers have to wait in line to speak to a customer service representative behind a counter. At Singapore Airport its customer service reps are readily available to help as needed the moment travelers step into the airport.

The 90 CEAs as a group speak over 20 languages and dialects, including Hindi, Japanese, French, Tagalog and Thai which is extremely useful given the wide range of languages spoken by the airport’s over 45 million annual passengers.

If CEAs are unable to speak or understand a customer’s language, they use a Google translation app on their iPads. This approach helps them minimize the number of passengers who miss flights because they are unable to find the right check-in counter or gate.

iPads empower CEAs to help travelers purchase last minute tickets or apply for visas, both of which are often less costly when completed online even if a traveler in already at the airport.

While the N.I.C.E. program in America is improving airline travelers’ experiences, airports should look at what the Singapore Airport is doing to see the future of airport passenger service.
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