Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2023

Right, Below: One aspect of the Customer Service Action Council at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is a focus on employees at the airport. The thinking is that a happy workforce will spread that cheer to the traveling public, creating a better traveler experience.

the airport experience as being one continuous activity, so we always stress it doesn’t matter whether you’re waiting in a line for Starbucks or for security, or to drop your bag, any one of those experiences can shed a light [about] the entire airport. The Customer Service Action Council has numerous subcommittees, some that focus on the employee experience at the airport. The MSP Nice committee, for example, analyzes unsolicited compliments that come in, and recognize the employees who are responsible for the positive feedback. “They are approximately 1% of the total employees at the airport,” Furhman says of the recipients of such passenger compliments. “We pull [the recognized team members] together for an MSP Nice celebration at the end of the year,” says Fuhrman. Because of the recognition and general concern for the well-being and satisfaction of employees, “we get better engagement with the passengers,” Fuhrman says. “We put a smile on their face, and they put a smile on somebody else’s face. That person has a better experience as they go through the airport. It’s kind of a continuous loop.”

customer service that Airports Council International – North America monitors as part of its Airport Service Quality Program. MSP has won “Best Airport in North America honors for six of the last seven years through the ASQ program. Fuhrman, who leads the program, says it’s important that both direct MAC employees and employees of airport tenants recognize that the traveling public doesn’t differentiate among the different entities. “We always say that [travelers] don’t really care who you work for at the airport,” Fuhrman explains. “They see

A Continuous Loop At MSP For nearly 25 years, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has had a Customer Service Action Council, a group made up of Metropolitan Airports Commission staff as well as staff from airlines, concessionaires, federal agencies and others. “The group is really focused on what we can do to make the experience better within the MSP environment,” says Roy Fuhrman, chief operating officer for the MAC. He says much of the focus is on addressing myriad areas of

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AX NEWS CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUE 2023