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LAX Airport N.I.C.E.
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LAWA Ambassador and Guide |
Myrl Wellington
A family approached me very upset because they had misplaced their hotel and Super Shuttle vouchers for Disneyland. They didn’t know whether they had left the vouchers on the plane or at the departure gate back in Vancouver, British Columbia where they had flown in from. I engaged them to calm them down and I assured them I would help them. I called to their carrier’s rep who called the arrival gate where their plane was still parked. But there were no vouchers there. And so we kept trying. I called another agent for that airline and that agent called to Vancouver, and sure enough the gate agent in Canada had them in hand. We explained to the family that the packet would be put on the next plane from Vancouver and soon they would have their tickets to Disneyland. They told me they were very impressed that I knew exactly what to do.
Jeanne Chellino
A man was confused because he was flying to London but he didn’t know where to go to get to the Continental counter. I knew from my experience that Continental did not have a flight to London, so I was proactive and investigated and took him to the British Airways counter, but he was not listed as one of their passengers. Now he was very upset and confused, but I promised I would take care of him and take him to as many places as necessary until we got him squared away. Before long I found out that he was booked on United and that calmed him down and he said he was grateful and I got him to the right place on time.
Mariana Valdez
A couple was upset because their travel agent in France had made their reservation for their connecting flight for the wrong day. When they arrived at LAX, they discovered that because of the booking error their connecting flight to New Zealand had departed the day before. I used my resiliency strengths and was proactive. I took control of the situation and made their case to the carrier because I could see we had a language issue and they could not explain their problem. Their carrier was understanding and saw the error and paid for a hotel room and put them on the next available flight with another airline. I showed them how to get to their hotel for the night and they were calm by this point and I helped them look at the bright side and in the end they were happy to have some extra time in LA.
Christina Shin
This happens a lot! A woman was upset because her documents were not filled out properly and she could not clear Customs as a result. I engaged her so she could see that someone was taking an interest to help her. I explained that she needed to provide full information, including an address for someone she would be visiting in the US. I was proactive and I helped her go through her records and find the address in LA where she would be staying. Then I was patient and worked with her to complete the document. She stopped crying and left thanking me for helping her get into the country.
Karen Sikora
A family of six - a mother, father, three school age boys and an infant girl - had a seven hour layover. They wanted to walk around the airport, but seven hours would be too long for the mother and father to carry the baby. They asked me if I knew of a store that sold strollers. The airport doesn’t have a stroller store, I told them, but I had an idea. I was proactive and called over to lost and found. Sure enough, they had a stroller and I asked if we could borrow it for a few hours. I made arrangements for them to use it and the father said, "Thank you, now our baby doesn’t have to squirm around for seven hours!"
Edith Arevalo
It was a hectic day - there wasn’t room for one more soul in the Customs area. Suddenly a woman trembling reached out for me and said, "Help me!" She told me she was a US citizen, but her husband was a German citizen. The line for non US citizens was very long and because she had recently had an operation, she told me she was afraid she would be too weak to wait on that long line with her husband. She pointed to the bandages from her operation and I could see she had a problem. I called the Customs and Border Patrol supervisor, and he got her processed right then and there. Then the Supervisor took her husband to be processed, while I found a place for her to sit and wait comfortably for her husband. "Thank you, baby," she said.
Andrew Carr
An elderly Vietnamese woman had to get from Bradley to Terminal 1, but every time I told her the direction to go, she would head off about 25 steps, then turn around and come back to me - confused! I continued to engage her and be patient. I told her everything would be OK, but to no avail. Another 25 steps out, another 25 steps back! I took a proactive step and walked her to the curb. Gently, I showed her exactly what to do to catch the shuttle, but then suddenly she put a phone in my face and said, "Here." To my surprise it was her son from North Carolina and he said his mother was very upset and was afraid to take the shuttle. I told him not to worry, and I got permission to ride with her. When we got to Terminal 1, I worked with the airline agent to check her in and the agent suggested we get her a wheelchair. Again, the woman extended her phone to me and this time her son wanted me to take money for helping his mother. I said no, this is what we do. When the lady sat down in the wheelchair she looked at me with a tear in her eye. I admit there was one in my eye too.
LAX Airport N.I.C.E. Monthly Winners
June to December, 2010
June, 2010
Robert Ewald, Customer Service Rep
A couple came up to me during a slow period at Terminal 6 and asked for directions to a shopping center. It seemed they had been on a two week cruise, and their next flight would leave around 1 am, in ten hours. I mentioned how important it was that wherever they go, they had to be sure to get back in time to check in, that a taxi would cost about $30 each way, and that it would be getting dark around 8:45 or 9 pm. They asked for alternatives, so I explained that the Howard Hughes Center and Westfield’s Mall to the North and the La Plaza el Segundo and Manhattan Beach Mall to the south could be reached by public bus. That would also give them a sure way to get back to the airport in time, and the cost would be less than $5. I happened to have timetables for the Culver City Bus 6 and the Metro bus 232. I took them to the Lot C bus stop and explained that the Lot C driver would show them how to get to the LAX City Bus Terminal. They were so impressed that I could be such a full service local tourism guide!
July, 2010
Daphne Carter, Airport Response Coordination Center - ASO II
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.
August, 2010
Edna Johnson, LAWA Airside Bus Driver
When I pulled my bus full of passengers to the aircraft, the airline agent motioned to me not to open the doors yet. She signaled to me that she needed to attend to something first before the passengers could get off. This made the passengers restless when they saw the agent get off the bus and they started calling for me to open the doors. Though I didn’t know all the details I knew there was a safety issue involved and so I acted proactively. I put myself into the middle of the situation and made an announcement that I would get more information and keep everyone posted, and I did. I spoke to the agent and we worked out a way to get the passengers off the bus while the agent dealt with her critical issue. As a result of my coordinating with the agent, the passengers understood we were not leaving them in the dark and ignoring their needs and they gave me a big cheer! It felt good to put myself in the middle, take action and be helpful.
September, 2010
Jan Lentz, Customer Service Rep
Jan approached a young girl who was having trouble making a phone call. The girl was crying and very upset. She had a phone card but could not get the card to work. Jan helped her make the call to her father in Germany. The girl continued to cry when talking to her father. She explained to Jan that her carrier had lost her luggage with all her important papers including papers for her permit to work in Sydney.
Jan engaged her to keep her calm then took her to look through all the bags in the storage area. When that didn’t work Jan led her to the baggage office to check further and to find out when the next JFK flight would arrive with her belongings. Then Jan gave her directions to get to the mall to buy a toothbrush and some clothes and took the young girl to the traveler’s aide desk for assistance to find a hotel for the night.
The young woman thanked Jan profusely for all Jan’s concern to get her set, stable and comfortable in LA until her luggage arrived and she could be on her way to Australia.
October, 2010
Kimyatta Davis, Airport Security Badging
An applicant was upset because his badge to work for another year was returned in error. This caused him the inconvenience and frustration of not being able to work until he could get back to the Badging office to resolve the situation. Plus he wasn’t happy that he had to make an extra trip.
Immediately I adapted to the situation and dropped what I was doing to show him full attention, even though I had something important I was working on. Then I engaged him by listening completely to his full story, and this calmed him down, once he saw that I was focused totally on him.
Then even though I had not created the error I took full responsibility, and told him I would do everything I could to fix the problem as quickly as I could. This calmed him down fully, and he thanked me for taking ownership and respecting his issue.
November, 2010
Neil Todd, Airport Response Coordination Center - ASO II
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 his plane to an overnight slot designated for it.
I put myself in his place and found him a gate, but I told him I had a flight from another carrier set to arrive in four hours and I needed the gate back. He promised to be off in three hours, but as we got close to the three-hour mark he told me he needed more time. Now I had a problem since I had two customers with needs, the one on the gate and the one coming, and I acted proactively. I checked far and wide until I could locate an alternate gate for the incoming aircraft, and found one.
That way I was able to meet a carrier client’s need to remain on the gate beyond his allotted time, and at the same time save the incoming flight and all its passengers any inconvenience. Sometimes it takes a lot of work behind the scenes to keep everyone happy, but that’s what I enjoy about this job!
December, 2010
Cynthia Gonzalez, Customer Service Rep
A woman with two small children came to me in tears. She was late getting in on her domestic flight and needed to catch an international flight to meet her soldier husband who was being deployed overseas. She was scared that she would miss her international connection now that she had gotten in late to LAX, and she was worried because she couldn’t find anyone at the airline counter which was closed.
I knew I needed to be proactive, and I called over to USO to see if they could help make contact with the airline. USO jumped right in and made contact on the phone with the airline back office. That enabled the woman to make her connecting flight to see her husband. She thanked me so much for doing this for her, since if she had missed her flight her two kids would not have seen their daddy for a long, long time.
I told her the honor was all mine, and I asked her to thank her husband for all he does to keep us safe.
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