ALBANY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
737 Albany-Shaker Road, Albany, NY 12211 

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But customer centricity isn’t merely a matter of adding up these different components of quality, service, insight and responsiveness. You can introduce all these ideas into your business model, but if you don’t grapple with your company’s most basic strategic objective, then sooner or later your efforts will fail.

In the past I’ve found it helpful to explain the contrast between customer centricity and product centricity by understanding three criteria that actually help organisations to differentiate themselves from the competition. If you think about it, for a business to be competitively successful, it must meet three criteria:

1. It must be able to satisfy a customer’s need
2. It must identify a customer who wants that need satisfied
3. Organisations must communicate in the media of preference and choice.

In this world of immediacy that we live in is the mobile wallet the way to go for customer loyalty in the future?  What are your views

ATLANTIC CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
101 Atlantic City Intl Airport, Egg Harbor Twp, NJ 08234

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Aviation is on the threshold of a small revolution. And at times like these it is best to lead from the front, like KLM. Those who take the pressure off nature today, are the winners of tomorrow. The rapid development of alternative, reliable biofuels is vital.

Johan van de Gronden, directeur Wereld Natuur Fonds

The question is, if in the current financial situation, the airlines will be willing to shell out the money. Or even if they will have any money to spend on such luxuries, as one would put. Traditional carriers are cutting costs wherever possible, eliminating meals and charging passengers for checked in luggage. Soon, we won’t have any regular flights in Europe, when one can relax and just enjoy the journey. Let’s face it, no cheap airline will think about eco-flying alternatives unless it will bring quick revenues.  What we need is directives, regulations and a lot of investment. Everyone wants to fly but nobody thinks about the environmental consequences that we will see soon enough.

KLM has been researching biofuels and other alternatives to regular jet-fuel since 2007 in cooperation with WWF. It’s the first airline to develop a biofuel program with SkyNRG.

INDIANAPOLIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
7800 Col. H. Weir Cook Memorial Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46241

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NASHVILLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
One Terminal Drive, Nashville, TN 37214-4114

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As we are all aware Airlines, Hotels, Financial Services organisations and Retail businesses today are undergoing a Big Data revival and Digital revolution – It is in the pursuit of the ultimate Customer Experience and the potential incremental profits that spur on the enterprise -  The speed and pace of progess is alarming and somewhat likened or akin to rushing head on in over a chasm!

The anology of a Chasm brings me to a book I read many years ago on the growth and development of organisations within the Hi Tech Industries authored by Geoffrey Moore. The book was titled ‘Crossing the Chasm’ and the anology and principles it is grounded on still hold true today, this was followed by another book called ‘Inside the Tornado’ which builds on the former book.  Both books a recommended read.

Below is a recent quote from the Author Geoffrey Moore in respect of Big Data and The Digital experience;

Geoffrey states;

“We are putting the entire world on the Web and have digitized the consumer experience,” Moore said. “We are now digitizing the business experience including government and healthcare. The tool set you need to digitize requires Big Data because it’s not just about handling data before and after, it’s about handling data during transactions. Without Big Data, you are blind and deaf and in the middle of a freeway.”

Crossing the Chasm

In Mr Moore’s analogy organisations go through phases of maturity and evolve. It would be true to say they re -invent themselves and develop strategies and tactics to succeed and ‘Cross the Chasm’ or they fall off into the precipice to be forgotten.

Once on the other side they position their Brand, Products & Services to meet the needs of the customer and enter ‘The Tornado’ the place to be - where it is all happening, eventually emerging as a successful organisation into Main Street.

Inside the Tornado

However I have an issue – My Issue with Big Data and playing inside a Tornado!

My issue is…

Most organisations have been advised, understood and embraced the idea of Big Data and indeed spent many $M in the process. They are now in a rush wholeheartedly towards the chasm to get inside the Tornado without fully understanding what is inside or what is required to gain entry!

Now in anticipation at the precipice they stand and reflect – they are indeed wondering what to do with all this data they have amassed and how they can use it to get them across the Chasm to ‘Inside the Tornado’ and the Holy Grail!   

What is needed now- Customer Insight, Segmentation and understanding of Customer Value -Perhaps?

More will follow on this topic - your views please welcome as always?

NANTUCKET MEMORIAL AIRPORT
14 Memorial Road, Nantucket, MA 02554

[Note: Use Google Maps]

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Terminal Map: [This is a very small airport with two gates.]

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Flying with Fido?

Here’s a great website that details the pet relief areas at our U.S. Airports:

CLICK HERE

HONOLULU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
300 Rodgers Boulevard, Honolulu, HI 96819

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Terminal Maps: CLICK HERE

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You gotta hate it when…

The car you rented isn’t actually there?

Ah…traveling.

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KEY WEST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
3491 South Roosevelt Boulevard, Key West, FL 33040

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Terminal Map: [Note: It's a single runway airport.]

Latitude/Longitude: CLICK HERE

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DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (DEN or DIA)
8500 Pena Blvd. Denver, CO 80249-6340

Weather: CLICK HERE

Terminal map: CLICK HERE

FLYING IN

TRANSPORTATION:

Signs to transportation clear? Yes

Types of transportation:

Rental cars, taxis, hotel shuttles, commuter shuttles, public (bus) transportation

(With reservation): luxury limousines, mountain carriers, charter buses

Available 24 hours?  Maybe

Most flights arrive before midnight, and the rental car/other counters close at 11:30 p.m. each day.  If you arrive anytime before 6:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m., best to confirm your transportation.

RENTAL CARS:

Do you even need a rental car?  Yes. The airport is very isolated.  Denver:  30 minutes    Boulder:  45 minutes

Cars located onsite or offsite?  Offsite

Where are the check-in counters?   Counters located in central area of airport (you will pass them on way to ground transportation)

If you have a reservation, you do NOT need to stop at the rental counter in the terminal.  You can proceed directly to the corresponding transportation shuttle, then check in at the offsite location.

Hours:  6:30 a.m. – 11:30 p.m., 7 days per week

Total time from gate to car:  Allow 30 minutes (excluding baggage claim time)

BONUS TIPS:

FOOD:

Variety of restaurants (fast-food and sit-down)

Please note most restaurants close at 9:00 p.m., seven days/week except:

Chef Jimmy’s Bistro & Spirits, A gates, Center core (closes at 11:30 p.m.)

Boulder Beer Tap House, West Side, Level 5 (closes at 11:00 p.m.)

Mesa Verde Smoking Lounge, A gates, Mezzanine (closes at 11:30 p.m.)

Burger King, East Side, Level 6 (Open 24 hours)

McDonalds, A gates, Center core (Open 24 hours)

MISC.:

Construction exiting airport? No

Smoking allowed? Yes, in designated areas, both inside and outside the airport

What if it snows?  They’re prepared

FLYING OUT

TRAVELING TO AIRPORT:

Construction delays?  No

Will peak traffic times affect you? No, not once you’re 15 minutes from airport

Will weather affect your flight?  Maybe, but they are very prepared for snow

I recently flew out of DEN after 18” of snow, and my flight wasn’t cancelled.

ARRIVING AT AIRPORT:

Signs clearly marked for departure/arrival and rental cars?  Yes (but…please see notes about rental car drop-off)

PARKING AVAILABLE:

Onsite and offsite parking is available – clearly marked

RENTAL CARS:

Are they located offsite or onsite?  Offsite

Drop-off signs clearly marked?  No – you will need to run a Google map.

Some rental agencies are listed from the highway, some aren’t.  There are two total exits to drop off rental cars. Period.  If you miss that last exit you have to drive through the airport.  Take one of the two exits that say “rental cars” and you’ll be fine.

Total time from drop-off to gate:  30-45 minutes once you arrive at the rental car drop-off station.  You then board a shuttle to the terminal.

TERMINAL:

Is there more than one? No

This airport is set up as follows:  One (1) “terminal” and three (3) “gates” – Gates A, B & C.  You arrive at the main “terminal” then take a train to one of the three gates.  It’s clearly marked.  >>>>>>>>>Allow an additional 10 minutes for this process.

SECURITY CHECKPOINT:

Average clearance time (excluding First Class/Priority): 20 minutes

www.ClearMe.com or equivalent available?  Yes (delete 15 minutes for clearance time)

WI-FI:

Free or pay?  Free

BONUS TIPS:

Curbside check available?  Yes
Curbside only for: American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, US Airways, and United Airlines

Hotels close?  None onsite – Offsite (located in the 6900 blocks of Tower Road, allow 15 minutes)

FOOD:

Variety of restaurants (fast-food and sit-down); HOWEVER, please note most close at 9:00 p.m., seven days/week except:

Chef Jimmy’s Bistro & Spirits, A gates, Center core (closes at 11:30 p.m.)

Boulder Beer Tap House, West Side, Level 5 (closes at 11:00 p.m.)

Mesa Verde Smoking Lounge, A gates, Mezzanine (closes at 11:30 p.m.)

Burger King, East Side, Level 6 (Open 24 hours)

McDonalds, A gates, Center core (Open 24 hours)

Comments, suggestions, questions? Please drop us a note at airportsmadesimple@gmail.com.

A toilet seat as it was meant to be…

I flew to Kiev yesterday. I went to the toilet first.

They have tried hard at London’s Gatwick Airport.

There is a new ‘super-loo’.

The holes in the toilet seats are rectangular.

I checked my bottom before and after using one. My bottom is not rectangular. I was unable to check other people’s bottoms. But I suspect the design of these new ‘super’ toilet seats is a triumph of design over practicality.

A triumph of good intentions over actual effectiveness.

Some seats in the Departure Lounge at Gatwick have little flat surfaces next to them with plug sockets and USB ports so you can use and charge your computers and mobile phones.

All the sockets and USB ports had been switched off.

A triumph of good intentions over actual effectiveness.

Ukraine International Airlines were very attentive on the flight to Kiev. All the pilot and cabin announcements were, of course, in both Ukrainian… and in English as, I think, the rules say they have to be. At least, I think they were in English.

But the English was around 97% totally incomprehensible. It was like audio origami. I basically only knew it was English because of the polite addition of clear Thankyous at the end of sentences.

A triumph of good intentions over actual effectiveness.

A central street in Kiev – or Kyiv –  at 9.40am this morning

So now I am in Kiev.

In an enlightening conversation last night, a local was telling me how the corruption system works.

It is a triumph of actual effectiveness over good intentions.

I say I am in Kiev… but actually I am in Kyiv. Because ‘Kiev’ was the Russian-approved Western spelling used in the Soviet era. Now Ukraine is independent. So now it is written as ‘Kyiv’.

As with all ex-Soviet states, there was and is a problem with the Russians.

I remember a historian (not British born) telling me in the 1990s what he thought was the difference between the collapse of the British Empire and the collapse of the Soviet Empire.

I do not know if he is right or wrong, but it is an interesting viewpoint.

The way he saw it, the British had conquered an empire but had, by-and-large, not fully integrated themselves within the local community, particularly in India.

In the Raj, they tended to live in British communities, go to British clubs and continue living their British lives separate from the local communities. Britain was always seen as their home country. They lived consciously as ex-pats.

With the Soviet Empire, the Russians, to a greater extent, colonised each country and moved their families and lives lock, stock and family barrel into them because they, perhaps, felt that all these other countries really were part of one great Socialist country.

When India got independence, by and large, most British families simply upped-sticks and left, mostly going back to their ‘home’ country – the UK.

But, when the Soviet Empire collapsed and satellite countries got independence, the Russian populations within those countries had psychologically, economically and physically integrated their families’ lives within the communities. They had no actual close family ties back in Russia. They were not expats living away from mother Russia. They were Russians who felt fully part of the satellite countries.

For example, in Uzbekistan, they were not Uzbeks yet, in Russia, they were not ‘real’ Russians. They had nowhere to ‘go home’ to. These were Russians who had been in Uzbekistan for generations and were now left stranded in what had been their home country and was now a foreign country.

Same thing in the Ukraine… exacerbated by a history of invasions over the centuries.

There is a heavy Russian presence in the east and in the south of modern, independent Ukraine. According to a 2001 census, 67.5 percent of the population declared Ukrainian as their ‘native’ language and 29.6 percent declared Russian.

They considered Russian their ‘native’ language.

Almost 30% of the country.

Almost all in the east and south.

This is not good.

Some people talk of splitting the country.

Mostly the Russians in the Ukraine. And the Russians in the Kremlin.

I recently read a story in Huffington Post Travel by Christopher Elliott that really was a breath of fresh air.  It was about United Airlines holding a plane so a passenger could say goodbye to his dying mother. Since the days of 9-11 we have not seen anything like this happen (over a DECADE mind you) in our country out of fear.  Hearing a story of people working together so one man they have met in passing (some never met him) could make his flights on time – with his luggage – is so unusual it is on every news agency around the country.  In the days of “TSA full body scans” and tweezers being a terror alert I was fascinated to hear of someone being allowed to board “without looking at his boarding pass”.

Having traveled quite extensively I have missed many flights. “This just doesn’t happen” was running through my head. Yes, it does.  Only last month Kim K. & Kanye were allowed on a plane without the proper screening then “rechecked” after boarding (who else did they airline think they were at that point?) holding up the whole plane.  But they are celebrities and this man was not.  Those kinds of things happen in their world but not so often the normal personal’s life.  It is a compelling story about everyday people helping someone who needed it when it was most important.  It gives the sometimes aggressive world of travel an alternative. I hope we all have the opportunity to help someone. The United staff makes them who they are, and I hope they never forget that . Well done United crew and Christopher Elliott for spreading the word

✈ – JM

Works Cited

Elliott, Christopher. “Christopher Elliott: United Airlines Holds Plane So Passenger Kerry Drake Can Say Goodbye To His Dying Mother.” Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. 6 Mar. 2013. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-elliott/united-airlines-holds-plane_b_2820787.html?utm_hp_ref=travel

“Kim Kardashian, Kanye West Delay Flight After Bypassing Mandatory Security Screening.” Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/kim-kardashian-kanye-west-delay-flight_n_2680777.html.

This Video will show you the Fort Lauderdale Airport Arrivals Area.

BOZEMAN YELLOWSTONE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
850 Gallatin Field Road, Belgrade, MT 59714

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ALBUQUERQUE INTERNATIONAL SUNPORT AIRPORT
2200 Sunport SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106

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Terminal Map: CLICK HERE

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SACRAMENTO MCCLELLAN AIRPORT
3028 Peacekeeper Way, McClellan, CA 95652 USA

Weather: CLICK HERE

Terminal Map: Very small (also used for some military purposes)

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