When You Gotta Go . . .

What matters most to airport travelers? Security wait times, for one. Baggage, of course.

And bathrooms.

In a 2019 survey by Airport Service Quality (ASQ), the benchmarking program run by Airports Council International, travelers ranked restroom cleanliness No. 4 on their list of most important airport amenities.

At PIT, restroom cleanliness received a score of 4.33 (out of 5.0) and ranked 15^th among the 50 North American airports that participate in the ASQ program.

“The restrooms are often the first part of the passenger experience and we want to make sure we leave a positive impression,” said Dee Callan, daylight supervisor of ISS Facility Services at Pittsburgh International.

With so many passengers coming and, well, going, keeping the restrooms safe and clean is an around-the-clock job. PIT employs 10 daylight, 10 mid-shift and 12 midnight shift cleaners to clean and supply the airport’s 80 public bathrooms – 28 before security and 52 airside.

That adds up a whole lot of toilet paper and other supplies. Last year, PIT spent, $264,052 on restroom necessities including toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, paper toilet seat covers, mango-scented urinal screen fresheners, and liquid hand soap.

For the full picture, check out our infographic, “PIT Stops.”

“Throughout the industry there is a saying that “great customer service starts with clean restrooms,’” said Jeff Martinelli, manager of customer programs at PIT. “And that’s not far from the truth. We know it’s important to the customer experience.”