Service goes up another notch at Changi Airport

Service at Changi Airport is set to be further enhanced with the introduction of the Changi Experience Agents (CEAs) initiative, where roving customer service officers are deployed airport-wide to help visitors and passengers with assistance, as well as the Changi Contact Centre, a 24/7 one-stop centralised call centre facility which consolidates all telephone lines for the airport into a common number.

Both brand-new initiatives are aimed at enhancing the Changi Experience and were introduced to augment and strengthen CAG’s effort to provide a stress-free, personalised and positively surprising experience for all visitors and passengers at the airport.

Changi Experience Agents
Since March this year, roving customer service officers (CSOs) have been walking the grounds at the airport and helping visitors and passengers with their requests. This group of officers, or Changi Experience Agents (CEAs), are deployed airport-wide as part of CAG’s efforts to be more responsive to customers who require assistance. Their job includes assisting passengers with special needs, and helping passengers with wayfinding at the airport. Locating missing luggage, facilitating passengers with check-in needs and assisting transit or transfer passengers with their onward connections also form part of the CEAs’ duties. CEAs work in shifts and are deployed across all four terminals during each shift.

There are currently more than 90 CEAs at Changi. They speak a total of more than 20 languages and dialects. Some of the foreign languages include Hindi, Japanese, French, Tagalog and Thai, a reflection of Changi’s top passenger markets.

The CEAs will complement the existing CSOs deployed at the information counters as they have the flexibility to roam the terminals and proactively approach passengers in need. In addition, each CEA is also equipped with an iPad with which they can retrieve information, such as the latest flight updates, store location, check-in gates etc, to help passengers with their specific requests.

Commenting on the new initiative, Mr Foo Sek Min, Executive Vice President, Changi Airport Group said, “At Changi Airport, we are constantly innovating to introduce new and enhanced services to provide convenience and address any gaps in services rendered to our passengers. The CEAs are deployed at locations with high passenger traffic and during peak periods where the busy environment can lead to high levels of stress for travellers. They are able to proactively assist passengers and are empowered to leave their positions and go the extra mile to assist these passengers.”

The new CEA initiative has been well-received. Four months since its inception, more than 290 compliments have been received from many passengers who are pleasantly surprised by the extra touch in the service provided.

Changi Contact Centre
From 15 August, all telephone lines for Changi Airport enquiries will be consolidated into a single number. Customers with enquiries on matters related to CAG or general airport matters will only have one number to remember – (65) 6595 6868.

Previously, passengers will call the information counters at each terminal or the main CAG corporate hotline for enquiries and to provide feedback. These calls could sometimes be routed from one counter to another automatically by the system if a CSO is engaged in serving a customer at that time. With the new one-stop 24/7 Changi Contact Centre (CCC), it is now more convenient for the public to contact Changi. The facility will have dedicated staff manning the calls.

Besides handling telephone calls from the public, the CCC will be equipped with a new state-of-the-art customer relationship management system that integrates all feedback and enquiries received from customers across different communications platforms – phone calls, website, feedback kiosks and physical forms. This is especially useful as many customers currently send enquiries via the web. With the introduction of the CCC, staff can reply immediately to simple enquiries or channel the feedback to the respective terminals and airport agencies for their follow up. This will result in a more streamlined approach and improve the quality of responses generated.

In addition, the system allows tracking of interaction with customers, which in turn personalises the service rendered and promotes efficiency for follow-up cases. For instance, the CCC staff would know if a caller has dialled in previously, and address the caller by his name. The background of the caller’s previous feedback would also be made easily available for the CCC staff’s reference.

Changi retains edge in customer service
In the recent Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) 2011 results released by the Institute of Service Excellence at Singapore Management University (ISES), Changi Airport’s customer satisfaction score was 78.6, an increase of 4.9 points from the previous year, beating the transportation and logistics industry average of 70. Changi Airport was also ranked first in the Transportation and Logistics category this year, a testament to the continuous efforts to improve visitor and passenger experience at Changi.