PIT Customer Experience Team Preparing for New Terminal

On the opening day of the new terminal, months of preparation will click into place for team members across Pittsburgh International Airport, including the Customer Experience team and its volunteer Ambassadors. As part of PIT’s customer service frontline, their on-the-ground knowledge of the space will be critical to welcoming travelers into a new era at the airport.

The Customer Experience team includes the information desk and lost-and-found staff, roaming Customer Care Agents, as well as 120 friendly Pittsburghers who volunteer as Ambassadors to help travelers make their way through the airport.

Throughout August, Customer Experience manager Elise Gomez has been leading groups of 10 Ambassadors and staff through the new terminal, providing detail on each level as they follow the passenger journey through the airport, from arrivals and departures to ground transportation and parking.

Gomez is one of PIT’s Operational Readiness and Transition (ORAT) Champions whose role is to prepare their teams for working in the new spaces and systems that are part of the Transformed PIT. The ORAT Champions group is comprised of more than 225 employees of the airport, airlines, concessions and other campus partners. Champions lead their teams on these familiarization site walks to ensure that team members and airport employees know how to navigate the new terminal, so they can work effectively and serve passengers. This is all part of a three-months-long orientation to ensure that Day One of the new terminal will be just like any other day at the airport for travelers and employees.

“When we take the groups out to the site,” Gomez said, “the first things I hear out of their mouths are ‘Wow, this is beautiful,’ or ‘Wow, look at the scale of the building – I did not expect this!’”

Elise Gomez, customer experience manager, is one of PIT’s Operational Readiness and Transition (ORAT) Champions tasked with preparing their teams for working in the new spaces and systems that are part of the Transformed PIT. (Photo by Beth Hollerich)

Gomez cites the soaring ceiling, bright, open spaces and columns that evoke the forests of Western Pennsylvania as part of the “wow” factor of the new terminal.

Beyond architectural design, a feature of the terminal that sets it apart from other airports is called the Welcome Point. Pittsburghers greet their friends and family in the airport, so the arrivals area is designed to have a central meeting space with comfortable seating. It’s also near the terraces, so people can enjoy the outdoors while they wait for their traveler.

Gomez emphasized the importance of these team site walks in the familiarization process for the Customer Experience team. When Ambassadors are not answering questions at their Ambassador desk, they are roaming the terminal and the concourses, directing passengers to the most efficient routes to their destination, whether it’s finding the right baggage carousel, locating an ATM, or getting to the nursing lounge.

Thanks to the intuitive design of the new terminal and signage improvements, Gomez suspects that Ambassadors will have fewer lost passengers to help, allowing them to focus more on the welcoming side of the job.

“It’s going to be such a great intuitive wayfinding experience for the passengers,” Gomez said.