A Finnish company called HappyOrNot is supplying Spain’s airport authority with quick-check terminals to test passenger satisfaction with aspects of airport security and service. The terminals have four buttons, with emoticons ranging from a happy emerald green to a red-faced scowl. They’re placed in various parts of the airport. Reported by SKIFT
They’re also used by a number of retail and food vendors, and also at Heathrow (where this traveler thinks there is no real need for the green buttons…)
It certainly has seemed to me that Heathrow doesn’t care (it’s probably true for JFK, too, but I’m not a stranger there). In fact, I go out of my way to avoid Heathrow. Between the airport experience itself (especially with a T3-T5 transfer) and BA’s high surcharges, I’ve taken to trying to make all my transfers through Madrid or Barcelona.
In fact, on my trip this month, I save a good bit by taking American on award tickets to Barcelona and paying my way on Vueling to Marseille. I could have had “free” tickets to Marseille through London, but the surcharges on BA were several times the Vueling ticket. And when you consider that BA, Iberia and Vueling are all one…
The reason most airports don’t ask is because they don’t care !
JFK and Heathrow continue to increase their passenger numbers without the need for customer satisfaction. So by some misguided indicator they presume all is well down on the farm. A captive audience doesn’t attract an acceptable service level. A penny saved is a penny earned.