Monday July 2 saw me heading off on the early East Coast train from Peterborough to King’s Cross to travel across to Gatwick Airport, en route to Montreal for a break with some great friends and my ‘adopted’ family. The cheery train guard on the 06.10 from Peterborough got my day off to a good start, then it was First Capital Connect from St. Pancras International to Gatwick Airport. A slight negative – why, when I have had my ticket checked at a barrier at St. Pancras, then had it checked again by a polite ticket inspector on the train to Gatwick, do I have to show it yet again to a rather rude, red-faced ticket inspector entering Gatwick Airport?
Now, who has been to Gatwick Airport recently? Well, I hadn’t been for a good few months, and what a transformation! The new gents toilets in the South Terminal are the most luxurious I have seen provided for airport passengers anywhere – very impressive. It’s not just the facilities either – so often when public places are upgraded, the behaviour of the people is forgotten, but this has definitely not been the case at Gatwick! I went along to the Air Transat check-in and was greeted as I walked in, then pleasantly checked in by a smiling young lady after waiting just a few seconds. I was enjoying this and thinking ‘Watch out, Heathrow!’ Even the security personnel were friendly and smiling. I wonder if Gatwick are considering asking their retail concessions to up their game on customer service too? My expectations were totally exceeded – I have been flying out of Gatwick since Dan Air in the early 1980’s and this was way ahead of any customer experience that I have had there in the past.
On to the Air Transat gate and the Cabin Services Director came out and welcomed us personally – a great idea that I have never seen before. Boarding happened on time and the cabin crew were friendly, smiling with lots of eye contact. I was even given an extra glass of wine when I jokingly asked for one – a sure way to win my heart! All in all, a very positive experience and I will definitely fly Air Transat again.
Montreal is a beautiful city and I have some great friends who live there, so I had a very positive week. However, in terms of customer service the city ranks poorly. OK, it was one of the busiest weeks in the year, with the jazz festival on. Ironically, the best customer experience I had was right in the middle of the jazz festival on the Friday evening, when seven of us went for dinner at a St Hubert restaurant. The waitress was fantastic, treating each of us as individuals with loads of genuine smiles and eye contact, and patience when we changed our minds about desserts. It goes to show that you can deliver great service in a very busy restaurant.
Returning through Montreal Airport was disappointing – I queued for over an hour to check in, althought the queue was well-managed no-one apologised for the wait and I felt under-valued as a customer. I did get to sit in one of the seats with extra legroom without asking, though, and I’m sure that helped me to sleep better than I ever have before on an overnight flight.
Arriving back at Gatwick my expectations were exceeded once again – a smiling (yes, smiling) immigration officer used my name and wished me a pleasant onward journey. Quite extraordinary, and Heathrow really need to look at this as BAA never achieved anything like this when they were running Gatwick. I’d be surprised if employee turnover and sickness aren’t improving as well as customer satisfaction, as it seems that Gatwick are creating a culture of improvement there. I can honestly say it was the best service I have ever experienced at a U.K. airport.
Thanks to Paul Easton for the photo