Experience 065. I Saw the Sign. Wayfinding at Airports.
Release Date: 10/03/2022
Experience 082. Island Hopper & Round-the-World. Wrapping up 2024 Experiences.
The Seat 1A Podcast
The podcast is back, and Geoff is flying solo for the first time in 6 years. Thanks Vinod for everything you brought to the podcast. Geoff takes a look back at his 2024 round-the-world trip and other Canadian aviation experiences. Geoff checked the Island Hopper off his bucket list, travelling from Honolulu to Guam via the Marshall Islands and Micronesia. He forced a long layover in Honolulu to allow a visit to the city before heading out on the Island Hopper. The Island Hopper planes are old with some of the oldest Inflight Entertainment Systems Geoff has seen in years. Majuro airport and The...
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Experience 081. Summer Travel Plans With a Chance of Turbulence.
The Seat 1A Podcast
In this experience we review some recent travel along with a overview of our summer travel plans. Severe turbulence has been in the news recently in various locations around the world. Turbulence is always there and always has been there and always will be there. Remember the words that Vinod would tell passengers concerned about turbulence "The people flying the plane have families they need to get home to tonight." If you are concerned about the wings during turbulence, there are numerous wing flex test videos for all airplane manufacturers. . We want to give a shoutout to the Layovers...
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Experience 080. A Special Interview with a Six-Million-Mile Flyer
The Seat 1A Podcast
In this experience we are happy to bring you a special interview with senior leadership advisor Marco Villa. Over three decades Marco has flown more than 2800 flights and 6125000 miles. Geoff and Marco flew together in 2022 on internal flights in Mozambique complete with a crazy trip to Nampula (listen to experience 64 for more details). We ask Marco about his alliances and statuses. With all of these flights, Marco has almost achieved lifetime gold status on British Airways. He holds status in three different alliances along with Emirates. It all started for Marco in the mid-1990s when flying...
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Experience 079. Furry Fliers. Flying with Pets and Animals.
The Seat 1A Podcast
We’re happy to be back after a few months of hiatus. In this experience we examine pets and other furry fliers, and Vinod shares a couple of trip reports. We have talked about animals as cargo in previous experiences. Airlines should know that there is an animal in the plane. Vinod remembers a dog that escaped out of the plane in Edmonton and went missing for weeks. Geoff remembers a poor dog that made a mess of itself in the kennel. Vinod remembers a massive dog that took up a row of seats with a passenger flying from St. John’s to Toronto. Animal kennels on board need to be able to fit...
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Experience 078. Swiftly Getting Through Airports. Why is This Airport so Busy Today?
The Seat 1A Podcast
In this experience we look into the reasons why airports may get much busier than normal. We start out the podcast with a trip review of Vinod who recently flew to London-Heathrow. It was his virgin flight on an Airbus 350. There was no free seat selection with the ticket that he purchased. When Vinod flew out of Vancouver the British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Plaza Premium lounges were all under renovation. This led to an interesting temporary lounge in Vancouver’s International departures. The flight was quiet and uneventful with a landing at Heathrow Terminal 3. It had been decades...
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Experience 077. Can anyone help me? Issues with customer service.
The Seat 1A Podcast
In this experience we look into the world of customer service and examples when the experience goes sideways. We review the situation of the passengers who were flying from Paris to Singapore with a farting and drooling dog in premium economy. Singapore airlines finally got the issue resolved and credited them for their experience. In days gone by, your travel agent would have been your point of contact. Now you’re mostly on your own. Over the last four years, airlines lost many individuals who were extremely proficient in high-touch customer experience. Even more than ever, airline agents...
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Experience 076. That's the Ticket. Another Look at Bookings.
The Seat 1A Podcast
In this experience we take a trip into the show’s archives and review tickets and booking. We start out with a review from Vinod about his flight in the summer with Porter from Toronto to Vancouver. As people are looking for good fare prices, this is a good lead-in to a discussion about ticketing. We talked about ticketing in our very early experiences and are revisiting it in this experience. The moment that you purchase the right to travel on an aircraft, you get a Passenger Name Record. Every airline has their own PNR. Make sure you don’t share pictures of your PNR online. But airline...
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Experience 075. Celebrating 75 Episodes in Person. 2023 Summer Travel – The Analysis.
The Seat 1A Podcast
In this experience Vinod and Geoff are both in Toronto, recording in person and celebrate the milestone of 75 episodes. We proceed to do an analysis of travels in July 2023. Geoff had a trans-Atlantic adventure, with flights to Germany, Austria, and Turkey. Geoff's trip was from Toronto to Frankfurt with a premium economy ticket that had been booked early in the year but wanted to try for an upgrade. ExpertFlyer helped to figure out the load factor and Geoff tried the Air Canada bid upgrade system. Forty-eight hours in advance the upgrade was accepted. Remember that Air Canada does not have...
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Experience 074. Summer Skies. 2023 Plans for Vinod and Geoff.
The Seat 1A Podcast
In this experience we take a look at our summer 2023 travel plans, and also look at trips we took in June. It’s a very different summer than that of 2022. We’re getting closer to how things were pre-pandemic with higher amounts of staffing, however now we have to really search again for cheap fares. Vinod and Geoff had travels in June in Canada. Geoff flew to Yukon and did a large road trip from there also through Alaska. Geoff flew with Air North which had a terrific Connector Fare deal to Whitehorse from Calgary. There were a few adventures on the way - including waiting on the tarmac in...
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Experience 073. Flew to a Room. A Deeper Look at Airport Hotels.
The Seat 1A Podcast
In this experience we take a deeper look at the world of airport hotels. Sometimes hotels can be the best thing but can also be the most horrible desolate places on the planet. We’ve discussed many different types of hotels in previous experiences, from the incredible to the incredibly terrible. Big airports have the big global hotel brands. But there is another tier of just a place to sleep. There are some very neat hotels that are attached to airports – Geoff remembers his visit to the TWA hotel at JFK. There are also some hotels with very cramped and tight rooms. Vinod remembers a hotel...
info_outlineAs seen in the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2022, many travellers have returned to travelling. However, quite often passengers check in their brains and don't bring their brain into the airport. This is why wayfinding and signage is so important.
Sometimes there is common signage across a country - the black and yellow UK signage, for example. Sometimes signage is difficult to read – Vinod shares an experience from a number of years ago in Salt Lake City. Often signs are unilingual, and often signs are unclear what a passenger needs to do (for example: does the sign mean straight ahead, or go up to the next floor level?) Looking through crowds to see signage can be difficult.
Understandably, the signage can define the passenger experience.
Many airports have a check-in zone with a big letter to show the aisle.
Vinod and Geoff share their love of the departure flipboard sign in Frankfurt.
Signage details starts right on your ticketing information. And if you need to deal with ticketing, it could be in multiple locations. Moving along to pre-board screening and security, are there other scanning locations that will get you through more quickly? Lavatories and eating – sometimes the signage intent is very unclear. Vinod shares a story of finding a Japanese breakfast in Tokyo.
Some airports don’t announce the gate until a short period before departure, which can lead to a mass rush of passengers. At the gate itself things can go sideways with signage. Vinod shares a story of changing a gate three times in Hanoi.
If you're liking this episode experience, you may also enjoy Experience 023. "Sometimes the situation just goes bad. Making the most of the experience." It's available wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Sometimes signage is a simple as something like lettering. The boarding card has to also correlate with the wayfinding.
A passenger gets to Customs and Immigration – are there restrictions on which citizens use which queues? And once you leave the airport, what is the signage for your transportation?
News Items:
- simpleflying.com article "Air France Will Cease Transportation Of Research Animals When Its Contract Expires"
- onemileatatime.com article "Ouch: Both Pilots Of Ethiopian Airlines 737 Fall Asleep, Miss Approach"
If you have a story about airport signage, or other experiences that you would like to share, please email us at stories(at)seat1a.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you wish to support the show financially, we are on Patreon. Show notes are available online at http://podcast.seat1a.org/