Rick Denton: 0:05

You're listening to CX Passport, the show about creating great customer experiences with a dash of travel talk. Each episode well talk with our guests about great CX, travel...and just like the best journeys, explore new directions we never anticipated. I'm your host Rick Denton. I believe the best meals are served outside and require a passport. Let's get going. When do you say you start your vacation? Is it when you leave your home? Is it when you arrive at your hotel? If you're flying, is it when you get off the plane? What would it look like if you said I start my vacation at the airport. That's exactly the mission today's cx passport guest Misty Cisneros-Contreras seeks to achieve serving as the customer service manager for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Misty and her team worked to create America's friendliest airport. I've enjoyed many trips in and out of Sky Harbor. So I'm particularly excited to talk with misty today and learn more about her approach to passenger experience. Misty, welcome to cx passport.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 1:15

Hello, thank you for having me.

Rick Denton: 1:17

Misty, I recall a time when airports existed solely to provide just a functional access point for travelers to arrive and depart for flights. And the thought of a customer service team would be scoffed at now those days are no longer. So tell me how do you and your team create an experience where someone would actually say, I start my vacation when I arrive at the airport?

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 1:39

Well, really, today, it's about a customer experience, right? You want a good experience. If a passenger arrived and things run smoothly from the time you park your car, to checking in and getting through the checkpoints and sitting waiting for your flight to take off. If all those things run seamlessly, then we're doing our job, right, we're smiling and we're doing those extra little things to make it a nice experience for everyone. It's those customers that tell us about any sort of negative experience, they waited too long for this or that wasn't quite right. That's where we learn and we grow from and we look at how we can improve. But for us, we realize that our customers have choices. Not everybody needs to fly to get to their vacation spot or to travel to get to grandma's house, we want people to want to travel through Sky Harbor and have a good experience. And you know, know that there's some unique stores and great restaurants and other things that they can do along the way. So adding those extra little touches really makes Sky Harbor stand out as far as treating our passengers to a very friendly guest experience.

Rick Denton: 2:50

Yeah, that is something that I have, as a traveler have certainly seen airports do more and more of getting away from that, you know, that functional just ingress and egress kind of thing. And sort of the the fun at the airport and some of the the neat experiences that are there. do you how do you go about trying to figure out where in the customer's journey? Do we want to place this sort of experience? Or where do we want to, you know, we want this terminal to really have a place that they sit down and they they sit for a few hours and enjoy a nice meal or what that experience looks like? How do you think about that customer's journey, and where you would want to sort of amplify some of the things you're describing that go beyond just a traveler point?

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 3:33

Well, for us, it really starts from the inception of when we're designing the facility. And so I'm going to talk about terminal three, for example. That's our newest redone, I would say terminal, and we've have a lot of great views to the mountains around us. And so we've brought in some amazing furniture pieces that are angled to look out and just take in these views that of the desert that people don't necessarily if you're just kind of you know, stopping along here along the way you don't actually get out and able to take advantage of you know, hiking these mountains and things like that. You get to actually observe them and take it in. And so you're sitting in a nice comfy chair, maybe having a great cup of coffee from one of our local spots here at the airport and just taking in that view. We also look at adding on beyond some different ways as far as we have a pet therapy program. Oh, yeah, it's fantastic. So we've got over 50 dogs and their handlers that their sole purpose for being here is to provide give give our passengers a chance to smile and pet the dogs if they want to or engage with them. That is their sole purpose is just to be here. in case somebody wants to play with a dog or needs you know a hug from a friend friendly the furry little friend. We also have recently Within the past couple of years added our, our traveling tunes music program. So having those soothing tunes, sometimes in areas in the hustle and bustle of an airport, really kind of like make you mellow out, right music puts people in a good mood, and we highlight local artists in our music program. So, you know, even if you're just connecting on a flight, here, you'll have an opportunity to take in the views, here's some of the local music and taste some of the local tastes, because we've got a lot of great restaurants that are local vendors from from right here in Arizona,

Rick Denton: 5:36

oh my gosh, that makes me want to actually go out and spend some time there. I have certainly found myself enjoying hiking those mountains, and also just enjoying staring at those mountains. So I'm gonna have to make sure that I my next flight routes through terminal three. And it is I do like what you're describing the local approach that it helps sort of create a personality for the airport, that it's not just another sterile glass and steel box, but rather something that as a passengers inside there, they're actually connecting with the Greater Phoenix area and the Arizona culture, and what that might look like, even if it is that they never get to walk outside of the building, they will have walked through an Arizona culture and experience that I really like that.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 6:18

Yeah, and you know, one other piece that we have that's so dynamic to Sky Harbor is our our museum, we've got a great museum with showcases and galleries throughout the entire airport that highlight local artists as well, we've got different themes. And so you can actually see a lot of great artwork that highlight, you know, the wet southwest and Native American culture and all these different types of things that, you know, again, if you don't get a chance to step outside of Sky Harbor, you're going to experience that just by being here.

Rick Denton: 6:50

I love this. Okay, so, again, clearly, I'm biased, but I do love Sky Harbor as well. But so with that in mind, and knowing that I'm not going to let you answer Phoenix Sky Harbor, tell me about an airport experience you've had somewhere else that's impressed you.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 7:07

All I have to say there's there's quite a few airports that do top notch work. But you know, Dallas Fort Worth.

Rick Denton: 7:13

It's a great airport, my hometown. So yes, yeah, shout out there. All right.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 7:19

We've got a great volunteer program. And they really utilize all of their resources really well, from design to their technology and a very, very forward thinking as far as what they offer their customers in the terminals. SeaTac is another one, always top of the line over there as well, always looking for innovation. So enjoy sharing best practices from these other airports as well, because it's a small community when you think about the aviation customer service industry, and what might work for one may not work for another just based on, you know, location and, and how you're funded and things like that. But it's great to share best practices and see what can work when we were developing our, our pet therapy program here. You know, we are not the first airport to have a pet therapy program. But we took bits and pieces from other airports who have who learned along the way and what worked. And so it was able we were able to learn from that from their experiences, what worked, what didn't work, you know, Denver's another what great experience airport and they have a great dog therapy program that we really learned a lot from Louis.

Rick Denton: 8:29

I really liked that, you know, all of those airports I've experienced all the Denver I haven't experienced as much but DFW SeaTac certainly Sky Harbor, all of you all are having incredibly delightful when something you said about the local artists reminded me one of the things that I like about Austin's airport, is they will have a stage set up there. And my last time there was pre COVID, but have a stage set up with local artists. I think it even has sort of an Austin City Limits backdrop to it, and has that vibe to it. So I really liked that. So thinking back to the branding, right? And we've talked a lot of the factors that I think would fit into this. But you chosen a brand for Sky Harbor is America's friendliest airport. Again, imagine some of the things you've already said. But in general, what does that mean to you?

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 9:14

So, as a customer service manager, I always break it down to this. It's really simple. To me, having great customer service is having good manners. It's everything we learned when we were young, right? I mean, things that we learned when we were going into kindergarten, you know, be respectful say, Please and thank you and know, I always say, you know, make it past the the grandma test, right? You want her grandma to travel through an airport and get the best service possible. You know, if she's a little confused if she's a little bit slower, like you want people asking her Can I assist you Do you need any help and smile, a smile and again, this is pre COVID because I know it's really hard to smile with a mask on and actually determine And then somebody is smiling as well with your eyes as well. Right. So that friendly approach. And as an international airport, we may be, we may be the only American that some of our foreign guests ever interact with. So we want to give that great impression of, you know, we're friendly here, we're here to help you. And you do that with with smiling and offering, you know, the best assistance that you can. And so good customer service means things are working well, things are processing, well, you have a good experience, and that you're being friendly and friendly just means smiling and talking to somebody with respect, taking the time to answer folks questions. And also determining if you see someone, maybe they look a little confused offer assistance, you know, just being approachable as well. I

Rick Denton: 10:52

really like that one. I like it as a traveler, very selfishly, I like to go through that I am chuckling about the the grandma test. That's, that's a brilliant way of saying, look, this is what we're striving to be. And I do love it. So you're already so incredibly friendly. And I stress it again, I've experienced it, I love it, it's great. But how do you become even friendlier in the future?

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 11:15

So we're always looking at opportunities to improve. And so we really encourage that our customers provide us feedback, do we have it right? 100% of the time, no, but we're evolving, and we're learning. And so we give our customers so many opportunities, they can text us, they can email us, they can call us, they can reach us on social media, they can chat with us, give us your feedback, good, bad or indifferent. Because we value that and we look at it. And so I think a lot of times our customers are really shocked when they send a text and tell us, you know, oh, this, this that about their experience. And we actually respond immediately and say, Tell us more about that. Tell us more about that line that you waited in and what time of the day was it. So we can go back and we can look at you know, video footage and try to evaluate, okay, if this is happening every Sunday, between these hours, maybe we need to change that. And so I really look at my position as advocating on behalf of the customer, right. So I take all that feedback into my meetings, whether it's designing a new space, or, you know, changing the way we operate. operations is working on something, I share all of that feedback, we look at how we can enhance because, you know, especially during COVID-19 times we had to pivot, right, we needed our industry to continue on. But we had to learn a different ways to be able to still provide exceptional customer service that was even more safe, and more friendly. Because those are the two things that people really care about when they're traveling. They want to be safe, they want it to feel good. And that's what we want to do. And so we look at everything on how we can continue to enhance that. So not resting on our laurels. Just because something worked for us five years ago, 10 years ago, doesn't necessarily mean it works. Now, how can we improve it?

Rick Denton: 13:06

A little change of pace here, join me in the first class lounge, we'll move quickly here and hopefully have some fun. What is a dream travel location from your past?

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 13:20

A dream travel location from my, my past Well, I had the opportunity to travel to Israel. And it was an amazing experience, I learned so much everything I had read about and learned about when I was younger, actually able to see it and touch it and feel it. So that was an amazing experience just to go through various airports to get there and be a part of felt like history, you know, just walking through a history book. So that was amazing. And I did that, you know, before I was a mom with with children and a husband, I'd love to be able to do that again and take them to experience that as well.

Rick Denton: 14:04

And that great when you can you read about so much and you you it there there are elements that are so meaningful to your life and then to be able to actually be in the physical presence of the things that you've read about and understand. And and then I also noticed that you did say you enjoyed going through airports there. I can totally tell you have airports in your heart if you mentioned the airports on your way to Israel, for sure. So, thinking about the future, what is a dream travel location you've not been to yet.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 14:33

I would love to go to Barcelona. I feel like that would be an amazing experience. And I hadn't I haven't done you know, various Latin American countries. But the culture there I would love to experience the food and soak it all in. There's a lot of ancestry to that I would love to look into I was

Rick Denton: 14:59

there very Nice. Well, you mentioned foods. So favorite thing to eat,

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 15:04

of all time. My favorite thing to eat all the time, this is actually going to sound silly, but something that I grew up eating, and it's refried beans. I grew up in a really small town east of here, and is very well known for its Mexican food. And beans is something that, you know, we always had growing up, and it was, you know, every meal that we had, that was beans on the side. And so, I love to travel and try various types of beans. So here, it's refried beans, it's close to my heart, you know, but it's been to Puerto Rico and had their black beans and, you know, all over the world tried the different types.

Rick Denton: 15:42

I like that now. Will you tell me the name of that town so that next time I go there, I can go have that great Mexican food?

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 15:47

Yeah, absolutely. It's globe, Arizona, okay, small copper mining town. And there's probably about eight to 10 Mexican food restaurants that pretty world renowned. If you look it up that people travel just to go try this type of Mexican food,

Rick Denton: 16:04

I will have to hit that next time. I'm in the area, which looks to be August. So I may be planning my trip out to globe for then, what is now what's the thing that your parents forced you to eat, but you hate it as a kid?

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 16:16

Oh, I have a meal that my mom used to make on the regular. And if I didn't eat it, I didn't eat at all. And so there were some nights I didn't eat at all. And that would be meatloaf and scallop potatoes. Do it I still to this day can't do it. And I know a lot of people love it. And it's just not in my, my, my wheelhouse my flavor palette.

Rick Denton: 16:39

I like that if I didn't eat it all I if I didn't eat it, then I didn't eat it all Yes, I think we've all experienced that with with the meals of our parents, what is one travel item you will not leave home without

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 16:55

one travel item I will not leave home without would be hard candy. And that's just something that whether I get homesick traveling or am hungry and haven't found what I'm looking for need yet, or we're getting a little nauseous from my flight, which you know tends to happen to me sometimes. Hard Candy always helps, and it doesn't melt. So it doesn't matter where you're traveling to. It's just a little piece of comfort from home.

Rick Denton: 17:31

I recently saw that a new Taiwanese semiconductor company is expanding in the Phoenix area. And I've got to imagine this is going to bring an increased demand for Asian travel. So an airport, especially an international one, like Sky Harbor, you're going to have to respond to this wide spectrum of customers. How does the airport provide a great experience for such a globally diverse customer base.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 17:54

So Sky Harbor is always and will continue to make international travel a priority. So we have somebody who their their sole job is to focus on international airline development and an a team that looks at that and how we can best support our, our clientele our customers. And so we're just constantly looking at how we can support all of those travelers and their needs on where they want to travel.

Rick Denton: 18:24

I like that I've got to imagine that in especially as it continues to expand as you think about what customers you are supporting, and how that looks like it's going to continue to evolve. And I was thinking about something you had said earlier. And it was about customers and how you have this speed of response and that sort of thing and how you listen to them. But I'm thinking about so one of the things about an airport is as delightful as the airport can be people are typically going through it right? So the nature of your guests is going to be transient. And with that transient nature of your guests, how do you listen to the voice of the customer? And then how do you act on it.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 19:01

So we listen to our customer, and that we actually encourage them to put whatever they can whatever details that they have to share about their experience in writing. So that way we can evaluate it and we can follow up and look into it. You know, when somebody writes in and they text us or email us, we may not have the answer right then. But we'll say you know what, thank you so much for this, give me a day or two I'm going to look into and I'm going to follow back up with you. So our customers sometimes are surprised when we respond to them immediately. And then we follow up a week later Two weeks later and say okay, this is what the outcome is of this. Or here's where we are sorry, I don't have an answer for you yet. But that constant communication because communication is so important with customer service. I think sometimes people don't realize how valued they really are when they travel through Sky Harbor because we really do look at all the feedback that comes through and it's on several layers. So they may send In a tech, one simple little text from a cell phone will then get looked at by our team will get processed, we will share that with the division on which it's related to. And then we'll put that into a KPI report. And we'll look at how we're trending on that. And then our management team and then our executive team. So you may think it's a simple text when you're providing that feedback. But that feedback actually is valued and shared on many levels.

Rick Denton: 20:28

I can imagine that's, that is pretty surprising to a passenger flowing through Sky Harbor, to whatever has made them unhappy, or even some of the delighted them. And then to get that response back. So that's always a delight. Regardless, it doesn't matter what the company is. But I think for many, they don't think of the the airport as a place that would have that kind of customer centricity that you're describing the sky harbor has. So it's got to be a nice, a good shock.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 20:55

Absolutely our chat option off of our website, we get people who are asking questions on chat about, you know, traveling through Sky Harbor, and they get a response. And then, you know, it's custom and it's personalized, and then they're like, wait, this is a real person, this is not a robot. And, you know, it really is, it's a member of my team. And we may be working at our desks, or we may be in a meeting, but chat pops up on our laptop, and we respond to the customer.

Rick Denton: 21:21

Absolutely love it. Now, I'm thinking about that, though. So there's things that come in, right, you're responding to the passenger, they're, they're coming at you. But it's a challenge for any company that relies on third parties. But I imagine airports are particularly affected by this. We've got the TSA, you've got food vendors, retailers, and my goodness, even the airline's themselves have an impact on that, right. So how are you ensuring a great customer experience when it's delivered through a third party.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 21:49

So twofold. You establish great relationships with all of your tenants, and you make sure that everybody buys into our brand, which is America's friendliest airport. And you provide opportunities to recognize that. And so we have airport wide customer service programs, where we recognize any and everyone who works at the airport, who's kind of gone above and beyond, and will come on out to if it's a restaurant server, who's done something amazing, or a member of our custodial team, or somebody at the TSA will go out on the spot, and thank them for what they're doing to promote the brand and recognize them in front of their peers, promote that on social media. And so we recognize that all of our tenants and that and part of it is educating our customer, right? Nine times out of 10, the average customer doesn't realize that airport is like the landlord, and we have these tenants here. And so explaining to the customers, if they have a complaint about something that's a third party, you know, okay, thank you so much for the feedback. Here's what I'm going to do with this, I'm going to contact the manager within that organization and ask the bay, you know, I'm going to provide them with these details and ask a look into this on their end. And they do and then they provide the feedback to us. Okay, I talked to that employee, here's, you know how we're going to handle this. And then I can share that with the customer and let them know. So even though we've got a lot of third party organizations that work for at the airport, everybody's a part of the same team, we really look at it as we're all part of the same team. Let's go out and win this ballgame by delivering the same service I

Rick Denton: 23:29

love that absolutely love that. Man. It does sound like for those who haven't been through Sky Harbor, I encourage you to change your flights to make sure that one just go visit the Phoenix area right it's a delightful place and I am not I'm not on the payroll there. I just happened to love it haven't have a son that's in school there. And so just love the area and certainly love the airport. And if you have the opportunity to fly through it sounds like terminal three is the place to go. But I'm sure it will always continue to improve and and just be a delightful place. I encourage everyone to pass through their misty a we're coming unfortunately close to the end of our time. I think I could talk airports and global airports with you forever. But I want you to imagine something let's kind of close out here. I want you to imagine that you're standing at the departure board any any of the departure boards there at Sky Harbor right now. Which flight Do you want to be on and why?

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 24:17

I want to be on my way to john wayne in Orange County and go to Disneyland with my family and get back to some sort of normalcy with COVID-19 times and just have a nice fun family vacation like that.

Rick Denton: 24:37

What a What a wonderful, wonderful thought. And I do hope that that is something that happens very soon for you misty, it's been great talking with you. I love the chance to talk airports. I enjoy being able to talk about travel. And it's been fun with you particularly being able to blend those two worlds together. I think a lot of our listeners may not even realize that airports have such a customer centric focus and certainly Sky Harbor definitely has that. The idea of someone saying I start my vacation when I arrive at the airport I definitely see how you and your team are helping create that environment in that experience where a customer a passenger could actually say that I the mission of becoming America's friendliest airport what a delight and I and I can't wait to see the the the pet program. I'm looking forward to that part when I come through, and what a great way to close this out. Right? The idea of Hey, let's just go back to a little bit of normalcy and just enjoy Disneyland with a family so misty, it has been brilliant talking with you greatly enjoyed it. I've learned quite a bit myself and I know the listeners will as well. It's been enjoyable. Thank you, Misty, and I look forward to having you on again in the future.

Misty Cisneros-Contreras: 25:52

Thank you so much for having me. I'll be back in a heartbeat.

Rick Denton: 25:59

Thanks for joining us this week on CX Passport. Make sure to visit our website cxpassport.com where you can hit subscribe so you'll never miss a show. While you're at it, you can check out the rest of the EX4CX website. If you're looking to get real about customer experience, EX4CX is available to help you increase revenue by starting to listen to your customers and create great experiences for every customer every time. Thanks for listening to CX Passport and be sure to tune in for our next episode. Until next time, I'm Rick Denton, and I believe the best meals are served outside and require a passport.