Journeys, June 2015, Airport Best Practices
Airport Best Practices
Concurrent Session, Friday, June 19
Moderated by Andrea Itkin, TAI
How to recruit new members into the Travelers Aid transportation family
- We know how to recruit volunteers
- We can bring important resources to the table.
- We are the problem solvers
- Opportunity for new program managers to shadow peers at member airports
- Research target airports, survey their passengers to find out their needs so as to develop a strategy to meet these challenges
- Get video endorsements from airport managers to their peers
- Demonstrate how to pick-up the customer service “slack” since the airlines are no longer doing it
- Because we traditionally provide more than directions with social services links and heritage, this can sway a contract decision in our favor
Suggestions as to how to assist/help existing members
- Identify common practices, provide video training that can be shown at any airport
- Develop mentoring programs, ability to train new employees
- Get passengers to fill out comment cards for airport management
- Better educate airlines as to what we do since they refer passengers to us
- Alaska Airlines lists TA on their website
- Get airlines to provide testimonials
- The Travelers Aid program manager should be involved with the airport-airline council or the airport’s stakeholders committee – this structure varies with each airport
- Become involved in what was Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA), but is now Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (https://cvacert.org) and/or Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (www.volunteeralive.org)
- Attend ACI/AAAE Customer Service Conference to learn and share.
- Develop a “welcome packet” that better explains all things Travelers Aid to new program managers.
- Provide an annual update of Travelers Aid’s member benefits
- Improve communication among the members and with TAI. Perhaps bring back the conference calls, but only if there is a speaker or focused purpose.