What Are Your Customer's Needs?

The other day I was in the new terminal at the Raleigh-Durham airport in North Carolina. It's a pleasant place to fly out of (Are you listening Atlanta?) and I noticed something very different from most other airports I've visited. I didn't see people sitting on the floor or long cords being strung across the room like a tripwire.

I'm talking about a byproduct of people using laptops in airports. Usually while waiting for a flight, people will try to get some work done on their computer as well as charge it as well as other devices. The problem has been that the plugs have been located in inconvenient places. So in order to reach them, the user has to sit on the floor. Not only is this uncomfortable but it also can dirty your clothing.

At RDU, some of the seating takes away that challenge. Under the chairs you'll find a place where you can plug in your device. There are also ports for USB cables. Now you don't have to be uncomfortable while waiting for your flight.

This may not seem like a big deal but for frequent travelers it's a change that could make life a lot easier. The increasing portability of electronic devices has not been acknowledged by many airports. Too often customer service seems to be nothing more than acknowledging a problem. I was glad to see an airport that thought about its customer's needs and then provided a solution to their problem.