Thank you to our sponsors who make this Project LIFToff incentive possible, including Daniels Bistro and
hotel/restaurant members of Gateway to LA, including:
Photo (courtesy of the Daily Breeze) shows employees at
LAX taking the Resiliency Edge "kick off" class. To view a news story about the class, click
here.
LAWA Accounting has been frustrated with the Airfield Bus billing system since the change to the SITA RMS program one year ago. The trip charge disputes by the airlines have increased in the past months. Accounting will send the disputed charges to Airport Operations or Bus Operations for clarification for correction. To solve their problem, Daphne met with staff from LAWA Accounting, Airport Operations ARCC and Bus Operations. By viewing the billing sheets it became apparent that the RMS system is charging airlines for bus trips for parked aircraft and for crew trips. Parked aircraft appeared as live flights. The crew shuttles bus is operated without cost by for the TBIT carriers and the orders appeared as billable. Airport Operations and Bus Operations will review the bus activity and billing paperwork weekly. Charges that are erroneous will be identified and marked as “non-billable.” Accounting will receive the corrected paperwork and can bill the airlines timely and accurately. Daphne stepped in as a representative for the Gate Managers to attend the meeting on June 30th. She was highly proactive in her research and was able to identify most of the errors for the month of June. She took all the paperwork and went back to examine the past gate charts to determine the live flights versus the parked aircraft. Daphne took the extra initiative to be part of the solution.
Through Daphne’s efforts, LAWA Accounting knows that they will continue to have the participation of Airport Operations on the bus activity billing charges. In the end the airline tenants of LAX will receive a bill for bus trips that is more accurate.
Entry Num:
104
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Lester V
Name:
Rodney T
Comments:
One day we were swamped. Planes were coming in late, all arriving at the same time, and they all needed gates. Just then a call came in from a woman who said her mother, an 80 year old lady, had left her purse at Cinnabun in Terminal 6. She explained that she had googled the airport and somehow the phone rang with me. She pleaded with me to help her and even though our pace was hectic, I didn’t want to disappoint her. So I did some research and looked up the number for Cinnabun and gave it to her. She thanked me, but I wanted to double check so I called the number after I hung up with her. It rang through to Coffee Bean, which recently had been assigned that number from Cinnabun. I got the correct number for Cinnabun from Coffee Bean and just as I had finished writing it down my phone rang again. It was the lady with the 80 year old mother, frantic again. I told her I had the current number for Cinnabun now and she was grateful. She called back a short time later to tell me that she had made the connection with Cinnabun and they had her mom’s purse safe and sound and she was so relieved and she was grateful for all my efforts to help her.
Entry Num:
103
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Lacy S
Name:
Rodney T
Comments:
At the ticket counters the digital display signs go dark after a certain amount of time. The software program is written that way to allow for different carriers to post different flights. But one carrier had a need to remain at the counter for a series of flights and they needed an adjustment made to put in an “override” to allow the digital display to remain on and not go dark. To meet their need I took it on myself to work on my own time and see what I could do. I called our software vendor and I brainstormed with him on how we could do this. It took a while, but eventually we found a way. I was happy to do this, to accommodate our airline customer’s need.
Entry Num:
102
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Mike V
Name:
Coordinator
Comments:
All TSA passenger checkpoint screening at Terminal 7 was closed for more than 90 minutes due to a screening breach. This stopped screening at Terminals 5, 6, 7, & 8 as all are connected via corridors on the sterile side of screening. To solve passengers’ problems, I met with Airport Police and TSA at the Command Post at Terminal 7 screening and after the situation was resolved I partnered with Mike Corlett and Steve Sipos of Airfield Operations to facilitate the restart. I briefed the Terminal 6 Airlines managers of what the problem was, how it was resolved, what time screening was restarted, and our action plan to expedite the return to normal operations for their airlines. I further advised the airlines that I would be remaining at Terminal 6 until normal operations were restored and offered to help in any way they requested. I then floated between the screening checkpoint and the Customs hall to ensure that all passengers, both arriving and departing were handled in the fastest manner possible. Mark Weller worked with Mike Corlett at Terminal 5 and they worked quickly to balance the screening lines between Terminals 5 and 6. I heard words of thanks and gratitude from many travelers that I spoke with along with various airline, service companies and concessions employees. All appreciated hearing about LAWA's sincere efforts to mitigate the unfortunate and unpleasant situation as quickly as possible.
Entry Num:
101
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Neil T
Name:
Rodney T
Comments:
I got a call from a carrier representative who needed a gate to park an aircraft for three hours. The plane had just arrived and deplaned its passengers, but was scheduled to go out the next morning. The rep who called me needed a gate for three hours until he could move it to an overnight slot designated for it. I found him a gate, but I told him I had a flight from another carrier set to arrive in four hours and I needed that gate for that customer. He promised to be off in three hours, but as we got close to the three hour mark I called him for a status on moving the aircraft.
Entry Num:
100
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Rodney R
Name:
Rodney T
Comments:
We have six baggage carousels in the Tom Bradley International Terminal baggage claim area. The airlines like to have a carousel all to themselves for their arriving passengers. As best we can we all try to accommodate them. But sometimes flights will be delayed and other times ten flights will all arrive simultaneously and it doubling up on the carousels becomes necessary. In these cases, I am proactive. For example one night recently I had ten flights all arrive at the same time, and I worked to match up flights with similar carriers so that I could assign two flights belonging to the same carrier to a carousel to share it. They liked this solution and it allowed them to keep their passengers together. I do this as much as I can.
Entry Num:
99
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Daphne C
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
I know it might seem like a little thing, but when I do the gate scheduling I look for ways I can help our airline partners in ways they may have never considered. For example I know there’s one carrier that flies to Japan that likes to have its gate assignments on the north end of Bradley. There’s another airline that likes the south end since all their admin offices are close by those gates. Whenever I can I create gate assignments that gives each of them the gates that work best for them. A little thing maybe, but I know it creates conveniences for them and their passengers.
Entry Num:
98
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Daphne C
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
When an international flight arrives, Customs blocks off domestic access to that arriving gate so the passengers departing off the international flight can go directly to the Customs hall. One day a flight from Japan was four hours late. It was supposed to get in at 9:00 am, which would have been fine for the domestic carrier which operates at that gate area in the afternoon. But since the Japan flight didn’t get in until the afternoon I could see that was going to affect one of our domestic carriers which would not be able to use the boarding gate that had been assigned to it. I was proactive and I anticipated the problem and I engaged other carriers to find a way I could meet their needs, but also free up a new gate for the domestic airline affected by the late flight from Japan. I was able to do that and therefore the passengers on the afternoon domestic flight never had any negative impacts.
Entry Num:
97
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Jonel G
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
I knew the volcanic ash issue had caused a lot of frustration for our airline partners and their passengers, so I created a spread sheet that could provide a daily log of the numbers of flights that were delayed and the number of PAX affected. Each day during the crisis I would call each airline and get their numbers. That way I had the report ready when the PR department called. I was proactive by thinking of our Public Relations Division and media outlets because I knew they had to get the numbers to the outside media without delay and I wanted to meet their need as much as I could.
Entry Num:
96
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Lacy S
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
I try to be as proactive as possible when I do the scheduling for airline gates and I pay particular attention to how I type in the model number for an aircraft when I make an assignment. This is critical because some aircraft, such as an A 380, which carries 500 people, can only use certain gates. If a number gets transposed into the computer during typing that could create a situation whereby the plane arrives and gets sent to a gate that cannot accommodate it. That would inconvenience 500 people, and so I am very careful!
Entry Num:
95
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Carlyle K
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
Carlyle K Rodney Thompson
Recently we had two military transports scheduled to come into LAX. When that happens we give priority to the military to find them gates. The problem was that after we had done our scheduling to accommodate the transports, the military called to tell us that the arrival of the two planes was going to be delayed 24 hours. That means that all the scheduling we had done needed to be redone. I called the airlines whose gate assignments would be affected the next day and I engaged them in a calm way. I explained the situation and asked for their cooperation to work with us as we redid gate assignments. I was proactive and did my homework to find some gate switches I could achieve without inconveniencing the airlines too much, and this helped because a few of the airlines thanked me. The airlines knew the urgency in accommodating the military and were happy I had worked out as much of the switching as possible in advance so we could save passengers from being disrupted
Entry Num:
79
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Paul N
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
One afternoon the gate control software failed. This created havoc and confusion for all our airline carrier partners in the Bradley Terminal whose flight information boards suddenly went dark. I, along with all my colleagues on duty in the Airport Center, used our adaptability strength and we went into a manual mode. We were proactive as well and we immediately began calling the all carriers to notify them about the problem. We told them about our action plan and how we were implementing manual procedures to get information about arriving and departing flights up onto their boards for their customers. This calmed them that we were so proactive, and we stayed with it, working manually and letting our partners know that everything that could be done was being done. We worked this way for several hours until the system came back up, and even then we continued to engage the reps from the carriers to keep them informed and up to date each step of the way until things returned to normal.
Entry Num:
78
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Rodney R
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
I sent an arriving flight to the remote gate so I could accommodate a Lan Chile flight which had just arrived from that earthquake-stricken country. I could sense that the representative from the carrier I sent to the remote area was upset because his passengers would have to be bused back to Bradley from the remote area. I continued to engage him and I explained the reasons for my decision in a calm tone. I told him about curfew issues out of Santiago, Chile and the special needs the Lan Chile flight had. That calmed him down that I would take time to explain the situation in a calm, measured tone and in full detail. He accepted my decision and said he understood.
Entry Num:
77
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Neil T
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
A traveler was frustrated because he was supposed to meet someone on World Way West, but he ended up at the Bradley terminal and was very lost. His call came into the Airport Center as I was on the other line with an airline carrier handling gate management issues, but I could hear the frustration in the man’s tone. I asked him to hold a moment while I finished up with my carrier contact, and that calmed him, that someone would care and not abandon him. A moment later I got back on the line with him and used my knowledge of the airport to paint a visual picture. I gave him “markers” that he could follow out of the terminals area and find his way to World Way West. He thanked me profusely and told me I was very professional.
Entry Num:
76
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Jonell G.
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
A carrier station manager called very upset because he was about to board a flight which was leaving from the remote area, but the gate for the bus to that remote area was blocked off for repairs. I calmed him by telling him I would investigate, which I did on the spot and I discovered that someone had made a keystroke error in the computer. I continued to engage the airline manager telling him I was sorry that the error had occurred and I took full responsibility, but most of all while talking to him in a calm tone I worked quickly and I found him a bus gate very close to the original one where he had been sending his passengers. This made him happy that I was pro active and took control and fixed the problem so quickly. Then I was proactive again and I called over to our OPS department in the terminals and I asked if one of our supervisors could hurry over to the gate area I had given him and help direct his passengers onto their buses. Then I called the airline manager back and told him we had someone hurrying over there to help. This reassured him too, then one last thing I was proactive, and the next day I called him to apologize again for the computer error. He thanked me for being so thorough and helpful.
Entry Num:
75
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Norris
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
An airline rep called me upset because there was a computer glitch and he couldn’t make an update to the message board at his boarding gate. The message said “Delayed,” and he wanted to update it to say, “Boarding.” After a mechanical their plane and was ready for boarding, but passengers were milling at the gate confused, and he needed to give them the latest information. Since I’m new at my job and had not yet had a situation like this, I turned to Lacy sitting beside me while I kept the airline agent calm, Lacy called our IT department. But IT couldn’t make the adjustment from their end, and so Lacy and IT called our vendor, who made the fix to the glitch on his end. All the while, I continued to keep the airline rep engaged and informed of the steps we were taking, and this calmed him down. As soon as we had the problem fixed, he said “Thank you, you guys are great!”
Entry Num:
74
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Lacy S
Name:
Rodney Thompson
Comments:
An LAPD officer called the center very anxious. He was trying to make contact with one of his fellow officers who was on a flight. He wanted me to confirm if his colleague was in the air yet and what time he would arrive. He didn’t know his colleague’s airline. I engaged him, which calmed him, then I explained that we did not have access to airline passenger manifests from our end. But I could sense his anxiety and I assured him I would help him. I asked him what city his colleague was going to, and he said Chicago. Then I checked and saw that we had four airlines flying to Chicago at that time. I asked him to wait a moment, and I found the phone numbers for each of the four. I told him to call each one and give his colleague’s name and they could confirm which flight the other police officer was on. He was very happy and he said thank you for my attention to him and working through each step patiently.
Entry Num:
73
Company:
AirportCenter
Employee:
Welcome - AC Team
Name:
Airport Center Success Stories
Comments:
We're proud to welcome members of LAWA's Airpot Center into LAWA and Project LIFToff's "Resiliency Edge" customer service program.
Superintendents who operate the Airport Center play a critical role shaping positive impression for both internal and external LAX customers.
We are grateful to the team from the AC for joining the program and participating in "Resiliency Edge" training - we look forward to seeing customer service "success stories" from the AC in this space on the LAX Story Page.
