Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2023

to the appropriate place]. They can help get luggage out of their cars, which actually helps remove curbside congestion as well as providing better service.” YVR is “playing around with” a variety of other approaches as well. “What does a four and a half or five-star experience look like in an airport?” Pateman asks. “We all know what it looks like in a hotel but I’m not sure we’ve seen it in an airport.” One thing he is sure of is that people want the human touch. “It’s people really wanting to connect with people,” he says. “We continuing to learn and evolve, but I’m stoked by where we’re going to end up. I’m looking forward to seeing what transpires in 2024, from new commercial offerings to enhanced guest experience to enhanced accessibility. All of those are key areas for us next year, and we’re very fortunate to have a CEO and executive team who are fully on board in using the guest experience as a key lens for everything we do.”

Appreciation From GSP Located in the northwestern corner of South Carolina, small hub airport Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) has some heavy competition. Tom Tyra, vice president and chief marketing and communications officer says it’s crucial that the airport differentiate itself through customer service. “About two and a half hours away we have the biggest airport in the world ( Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ) and about an hour and a half away we have a top 10 airport ( Charlotte Douglas International Airport ), then we have some smaller competitors around us too,” says Tyra. “There are lots of choices for customers. One of the things that sets us apart is how we’re viewed and how we treat our customers. We get pretty high marks and we want to make sure they stay high.”

Above, below: Greenville Spartanburg International Airport offers quarterly on-airport customer appreciation events to supplement its comprehensive customer experience program.

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AX NEWS CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUE 2023