In conversation with Tom Stevens, Former Chief Customer Officer and Director of Brand and Customer Experience, British Airways

International Airport Review Editor, Holly Miles, met with Tom Stevens, Former Chief Customer Officer and Director of Brand and Customer Experience, British Airways for this exclusive interview.

It was really interesting to hear Tom’s take on what he describes as media “sensationalised” hype around queues and baggage problems, the workforce challenges the industry is experiencing, the changes in passenger behaviours that we are seeing, trends that are on his watchlist, and challenges for the future.

Collaboration between airlines and airports is very important said Tom. Operationally, he said, airlines and airports get on very well, the tension exists around commercial practices, and because of that there is a fear of sharing data with one another, but the customer experience would be much better, but there is always the debate over who owns the customer.

Key takeaways: 

• Airport workers can get the same money /package working somewhere else and in better conditions 
• In UK people need to be security cleared and this takes time 
• Passengers are now coming earlier to the airport due to media hype 
• We are seeing a different customer mix compared to pre-pandemic, there are more VFR or leisure travellers who travel with more baggage which is added strain to the airport baggage system
• Customers just want to go back to normal now and do not demand contactless technology as much
• Biometric technology is one to watch and is really coming to the fore 
• Collaboration between airlines and airports is very important but doesn’t happen very well around commercial practices.