Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Magic touch for Miami

Can one icon help another overcome bad customer service? The Mouse takes on Miami's airport woes.

LAKE BUENA VISTA

Walt Disney World calls its workers, from actors in Goofy outfits to laundry workers, "cast members" to make them feel part of the show. There's a garbage can every 25 steps, so litter will be tossed not dropped. There's a polite way to answer one of the park's most asked questions: "What time is the 3 o'clock parade?"

These nuggets are part of corporate customer service training offered by Disney Institute, a Florida unit of the Walt Disney Co. that has coached thousands of executives and front-line workers from other companies and organizations since 1986. Customers have included Delta Air Lines, IBM Corp., General Motors Corp., Chrysler Corp. and even the Internal Revenue Service and cigarettemaker Phillip Morris Inc.

Now the institute has taken another client: Miami International Airport, which many travelers will tell you needs customer service training like an airplane needs wings. Surveys rank its service among the nation's worst.

The airport's terminal operations employees are taking classes taught by Institute instructors, learning leadership practices, team building, staff relations and communication skills - many formulated by Walt Disney himself.

"Many organizations think they're different from Disney, and therefore can't learn from an entertainment or a parks and resorts business," said Bruce Jones, programming director for Disney Institute. "But then when they get here and work with us a little bit, they find out ... these principles and similarities are transferrable across industries, across cultures, and across different sizes and shapes of organizations.

"Just think of the airport business. The reality is both businesses have millions of people each year waiting in line for a ride."

Miami International Airport is a gateway to and from the Caribbean and Latin America. About 32.5-million passengers passed through the airport in 2006, including more than 14-million international passengers. But among 18 U.S. airports with 30-million or more passengers per year, only three airports performed worse in J.D. Power and Associates' 2007 North America Airport Satisfaction Study.

"The customer service needs to improve," said Sarah Abate, who oversees commercial services at the airport. "Passengers need to understand that Miami is a friendly airport, and we are passenger friendly."

Fast facts

Customers of the Disney Institute

Here are some organizations that have used the institute:

- Allstate Insurance Co.

- American ExpressCorporate Services

- Amtrak

- Bayer AG

- Blue Cross and Blue Shield

- Chrysler LLC

- Delta Air Lines Inc.

- Exxon Corp.

- Ford Motor Co.

- General Motors Corp.

- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

- IBM Corp.

- Johnson & Johnson

- Kraft Foods Inc

- McDonald's Corp.

- Merrill Lynch & Co.

- MetLife Inc.

- Pfizer Inc.

- Phillip Morris Inc.

- PricewaterhouseCoopers

- Prudential Securities

- Sony Corp.

- Target Corp.

- Toys "R" Us Inc.

- United Airlines

- Volkswagen of America

- Western Union Co.

Source: Disney Institute

[Last modified September 25, 2007, 23:19:55]