Lysa Scully, Assistant Director of Customer, Cargo, Concessions & Airport Services for the Port Authority, speaks about our regional airports' commitment to innovative customer care, the direction of the Customer Care Program and how it is targeted to increase satisfaction at our airports.
Focus on the Customer: What key changes have taken place in customer care over the past year?
Lysa Scully: Hardly a moment goes by when all of us involved with the airports aren't thinking of new ways to care for our customers and then putting these ideas into action. We continually envision ourselves in the place of our customers and try to experience their airport environment. We then work toward program enhancements and improvements. Although new technologies are critical to enhancing service, personal contact and assistance are fundamental to most travelers. In the last few months we have focused a lot on these two areas. First, we added more Customer Care Representatives at our airports to provide direct assistance to customers. We upgraded and intensified customer care training for all frontline staff, including working with our partners to have them train their own staff in the basics of our program. The goal here is for all airport employees to develop the right skills to properly address any customers' questions and concerns. Secondly, we began to pursue the use of new technologies in cooperation with our airport partners, such as Common-Use Self-Service (CUSS) kiosks and Radio Frequency Identification tagging for checked baggage.
FOC: How does the Customer Care Program differ from previous customer service initiatives at Port Authority airports?
LS: The Customer Care Program takes individual service programs that were successful on their own-such as the functions of our Customer Care Representatives (CCR), customer surveys, facility inspection and quality assurance programs, mystery shopping, customer service training and recognition programs-and joins them into one comprehensive program. This ensures that every element is well linked and that we fully focus on our customers' needs. We are proud of our tradition to provide outstanding service to our customers, as our front-line staff puts their hearts into their jobs. However, we felt the need to go a step further to reassure our customers of this great service. The Port Authority believed that a great way to accomplish all these goals, and recognize the sincerity and commitment staff put into their job of caring for our customers on a daily basis, was to rebrand our efforts under "Customer Care", since all our frontline staff put their hearts into what they do. We're also working with our airport partners so that our customers will be aware of the existence of this program and that it is there to serve them even better than before.
FOC: What matters most to travelers at the airports?
LS: Our surveys have proven time and again that receiving courteous treatment from all airport staff is as important to our customers as the physical condition of the terminals. Appropriately, both these areas are high priorities in our Customer Care Program. Our CCRs and our Customer Care Training Program tackle the courtesy issue headon. The mystery shopping and inspections programs provide our airport partners and us with invaluable information about the physical condition of our facilities. Last year, we invested additional funds in restroom cleaning, knowing that sanitary facilities are a top concern for our customers. FOC: What are the biggest challenges for ensuring excellent customer care? LS: Our airports have seen phenomenal air traffic growth in the last two years. While this growth is vital to the economic well-being of our region, it obviously brings with it heavier use of our facilities. That results in more wear and tear on the condition of the facilities and a greater demand for all customer services. We are working tirelessly to overcome these challenges with considerable creativity and ingenuity, because dedicated financial resources are not always at our disposal.
FOC: What are the biggest accomplishments of the Customer Care Program?
LS: In addition to the key changes of the last year, all of which are successes in their own right, I believe it has been our strong partnerships with both the airlines and our contractors in attending to our customers' needs. These partnerships and our mutual commitment to service are not new, but we are building on them year after year through our common goal of providing superb care to the millions of travelers who use our airports every year.
FOC: What do we all need to do to make customer care a success?
LS: We all need to be aware that our customers are the core of our business as we take care of their needs. Maintaining a great attitude, being aware of the importance of our appearance and being able to answer customers' questions, or at least point them in the right direction, are key to our success. These simple and fundamental values can also go miles toward turning a customer's frown into a smile.
Lysa Scully is responsible for providing vision and direction on a broad range of customer, cargo and concession services for Kennedy International, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports.

customers. Here are excerpts from a few of these letters.
"I have been flying into LaGuardia on a weekly basis for the past two months. For the first three weeks, I took the direct bus from LGA to Grand Central at the cost of about $21. When I approached Sita one day, she advised me about the M60 bus to 125th Street with its round trip of $4.00. I am indebted to her because she will save me a total of $225 over the course of my travels. She is to be commended for her knowledge, friendliness and professionalism. I thank her and I also thank you for hiring her." "In November, 2005, I arrived at LaGuardia looking for my nephew, who was arriving at this airport for his first time. He was helped by a wonderful Customer Care Representative by the name of Heidy De Leon, who stayed with him until they found me. We are very thankful she took the time and care to help my nephew and me find each other. We feel that people who do their job so well need to be recognized for it." "Please pass on to Sita Bodasing and Heidy DeLeon our heartfelt gratitude for finding our Radio City Music Hall tickets and returning them to the theatre. We came to New York from Illinois, especially to see the Rockettes, and it was our first time at LaGuardia. It makes our soul feel good to know that there are such honest and good people in this world."

individuals at JFK and LaGuardia. Michael, Howard and their colleagues work with Volunteers of America (VOA), a national nonprofit organization providing human service programs and assistance for individuals and communities. VOA has a contract with the Port Authority to help seek out these individuals as they make their way through JFK and LaGuardia. Newark Liberty has a similar arrangement with the City of Newark's Outreach Service under the Homeless Health Care Program. Recently, Michael and Howard encountered an apparently homeless man in Terminal 4. After assessing the man's situation, they found out that he was from England, had lost his passport, was without funds and had been in the U.S. during the past four years. Working with the Travelers Aid Service at the airport, they were able to purchase the gentleman a ticket to his home in England from funds wired in from his family back in England. By the end of the day he was aboard his flight. This and many other incidents represent the ongoing efforts of the VOA team to assist those in need at JFK and LaGuardia as they rely on a huge support network such as the Port Authority police, security guards, Customer Care Representatives, custodial workers and many others. While Michael and Howard's responsibilities do not fit the usual definition of customer care, these VOA volunteers perform an extraordinarily humane service that fully supports our innovative Customer Care Program.