Assistance

Greetings from New Zealand’s Auckland Airport

Air Travel, Architecture, Art, Assistance, Etiquette, Exhibits, Free Stuff,

First impressions are important, especially if you’re a city and you’d like folks who are just passing through to come back and stay awhile.  So you’d think every city would want its airport – its front door – to be all pretty and nice.

Like, say, Auckland Airport. Check out what greets visitors arriving on international flights:

Auckland welcome

No one is going to mistake this for an airport in Omaha, now are they?

And here’s another nice touch:  volunteers at the Auckland airport greet every international flight with complimentary coffee, tea, and travel information.

P1060763

Greetings from Changi Airport: butterflies and free coffee

Art, Assistance, Entertainment, Exhibits, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Massages, Sleeping, Wi-Fi, , , ,

I had loads of fun touring Singapore’s Changi Airport today and wanted to share a few photos of the some of the fun, unusual, and very useful amenities this airport offers.

In addition to free wireless Internet access and more than 500 free Internet terminals, Changi Airport has five lovely and restful gardens, including a cactus garden, a fern garden, a sunflower garden, an orchid garden and, my favorite, a butterfly garden:

Changi butterflies

There are napping areas throughout the airport, including some lounge chairs that include alarm clocks (!)  and I found these ladies enjoying some of the airport’s complimentary foot and leg massage machines.

Changi leg massage

And, in case you’re not quite awake, I guess, this giant coffee cup is around to remind travelers that on Monday mornings through mid-February, there’s free coffee for everyone.

Changi - free coffee

Pittsburgh International Airport kicks off Escort Program

Assistance, Getting around, ,

Just in time for National Customer Service Week, Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is introducing an escort program.

holding-hands

No, not THAT kind of escort program…..PIT’s Escort Program is being offered by the airport’s Volunteer Airport Ambassadors and is designed “for the individual who may be flying for the first time or is an international visitor who needs a hand navigating the airport. It is also for the adult child of an elderly parent, who is unable to escort the parent through the airport his/herself.”

Better yet, there’s no charge for the service and volunteer Airport Ambassadors accept no tips.

Sounds like a program that could – and should – be offered at all airports.

Want to give PIT’s Escort Program a try? Call (412) 472.5690, leave your name, number and flight information and they’ll take it from there.

And if you do use the service, let us know how it works.