Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2023

Preiser launched SAN’s program in 2011. “We do different types of training,” she explains. “For example, we train on crowd control - if we would have some sort of evacuation or a fire alarm, we show the team how they could help us with getting people to line back up and go through screening again. Terminal evacuations would probably be the main reason why we’ve deployed our team over the years. We also trained them on how to set up our [Emergency Operations Center].” The team also trains for more dire scenarios. In the event of an aircraft incident, for example, the airport would be tasked with setting up a family reception center, offering loved ones a place to gather and get information from the airlines, until the airline sets up a family assistance center elsewhere. “We trained [the volunteers] on how to set up our family reception center and we also train them on some crisis counseling.” The incident support team was put to the test during the breach in 2022. “The instant support team was a huge help to help with the evacuation of two terminals and to help with crowd control,” says Preiser. “That was definitely all hands on deck,…” While such incidences are, thankfully, few and far between, smaller events get volunteer attention as well in the interest of keeping the airport running smoothly. SAN puts out a call for volunteers yearly, and gets good response. “We tend to have a high number of our operations team sign up to participate,” Preiser says. “And the only bad thing about that is those folks already have a role to play during an emergency. I don’t discourage them from signing up because I think it’s good for them to have a situational awareness, to know how the instant support team can help them during an emergency. But they’re not too much used to my team because they have another role to play. The Incident Response Team’s tentacles need to reach farther than operations, she continues. “It is the non-operational folks - the finance people, the accounting people, the people who have more traditional office jobs - those are the people I need on the team,” she says. “In an emergency they could drop what they’re doing and participate and help my team during an emergency.”

SAN’s Incident Support Team San Diego International Airport (SAN) has a comprehensive guest experience program, of course, but one seldom-used element came into play in fall of 2022. The airport experienced a massive security breach, and SAN’s incident support team was mobilized to help travelers navigate the upheaval. Susie Preiser, manager, emergency management in aviation security and public safety, says she was inspired by a similar program at SEA more than a decade ago. That effort, and the initiative Preiser designed at SEA, involves tapping airport authority staff members to step up during an emergency. “It’s a way to get airport staff involved, like your accounting department, your finance department, people who tend to forget they work at an airport,” she says. “It offers them an opportunity to be trained to help out.”

Left: Below: A security breach at San Diego International Airport last year prompted the mobilization of a volunteer incident support team. The team is called on to assist with passenger needs during unusual events.

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AX NEWS CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUE 2023