Calgary International Airport II

[Tobuz]

The one water-refill-station-slash-janitor's-bucket-station??

[casper]

Originally Posted by Riise

While the implementation has been lacking, it is a fundamental change and it is asking a lot of an organization to have them instigate a fundamental change with nearly no training material.

I would agree they have to train their staff and the airport staff.

Training the passengers on how to check in and get to the gate is like training someone on how to go grocery shopping or visit a Starbucks. If a reasonable person can not work through it effectively with the visual clues (signage) and layout then it has not been properly done of it is a sub optimal customer experience.

Tail end of the month I have a trip over a week and half that starts in Victoria and includes going through the airports in Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. My planning does not include reading the online manual on how to use each of the airports. Just go with the flow. I will make a note of tallying up the number of airports that have embraced SSW and CTG systems.

SSW = Self Serve Water Scheme (e.g., fountain)
SSW+ = Self Serve Water Scheme Plus (e.g., fountain with water bottle fill)
CTG = Call To Gate

[Riise]

Originally Posted by casper

I would agree they have to train their staff and the airport staff.

Training the passengers on how to check in and get to the gate is like training someone on how to go grocery shopping or visit a Starbucks. If a reasonable person can not work through it effectively with the visual clues (signage) and layout then it has not been properly done of it is a sub optimal customer experience.

Two things:

1. The visual clues at the airport have not been working (i.e. premature gate information) and they are vital to any success that CTG will have.
2. Sometimes users do need to have their hand held.

In regards to #2, the London Underground provides a good example. Usually on the escalators at stations on the Underground, the rule is: walk left, stand right. However, Transport for London figured out that at very busy stations this does not optimize the flow of travellers. During the trails of "stand right, stand right", signage was not enough and they needed staff to be placed at the escalators to help implement the new system.

[PPAR]

Originally Posted by casper

Tail end of the month I have a trip over a week and half that starts in Victoria and includes going through the airports in Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. My planning does not include reading the online manual on how to use each of the airports. Just go with the flow. I will make a note of tallying up the number of airports that have embraced SSW and CTG.

Exactly. People go with the flow....once it is established.

[outoftheice]

Originally Posted by Tobuz

Photo of the D gate area this morning with departures for WestJet and Transat sun destinations.

Note the people all waiting . . . at the gates. Including many standing, leaning, and sitting on the floor.



The person's captions for the photo:

"Where are the seats??? This is just one flight waiting. Mother's and kids sitting on the floor. GENIUS"

Does anyone else find it amusing that with all this talk of call to gate and not wanting passengers waiting at the gate area the airport authority still went ahead with the expense/effort of installing TVs at the gate area? Yes I understand that in addition to showing the news, etc... this is an advertising tool that generates revenue but it also implies that people will be sitting and watching these TVs... so maybe, just maybe, the airport authority should have also made sure there were enough chairs installed so people had somewhere to sit!

Also one random aside.... Many people (including the airport authority, I think) keep saying that this is the first call to gate system in North America... it's not. Cancun has used call to gate for as long as I can remember and it is definitely part of North America. The difference with Cancun though is that there is no true central holding area so regardless of what gate you eventually end up at there are plenty of seats and services available to you close by while you wait..

[outoftheice]

Originally Posted by Tobuz

The one water-refill-station-slash-janitor's-bucket-station??

That's just pathetic. The Calgary Airport Authority should remember that their role should be one of customer service and taking care of the passengers transiting YYC and not one of maximizing revenue potential for tenants so that the airport authority can maximize the rents they charge... in my mind this is an empire building mentality from an organization that's supposed to be a not for profit steward of a critical piece of national infrastructure.

A great example of what YYC should be aiming for is YYZ. Over the last few years the airport authority has had a good change of heart that fancy artwork and shiny new spaces can't gloss over a poor approach to customer service and so they have invested big dollars into improving the passenger experience. Guess what? It's worked. People don't hate travelling through YYZ as much as they once did and the airport authority there has started winning multiple awards for their work. (And they've installed water fountains with bottle filling stations to boot!)

[youngregina]

Originally Posted by Tobuz

The one water-refill-station-slash-janitor's-bucket-station??

How could they install something like that and think that customers will intuitively think that this is the place to fill a water bottle. I look at that and think there is an upgraded kitchen sink showpiece for a model house that is on display... but still not quit finished. It's laughable that the airport authority thinks this is appropriate, especially considering that a wall mounted intuitive water fountain would have been half the cost.

Now where is the shaking my head emoji??

[speedog]

Originally Posted by youngregina

How could they install something like that and think that customers will intuitively think that this is the place to fill a water bottle. I look at that and think there is an upgraded kitchen sink showpiece for a model house that is on display... but still not quit finished. It's laughable that the airport authority thinks this is appropriate, especially considering that a wall mounted intuitive water fountain would have been half the cost.

Now where is the shaking my head emoji??

Shit, pretty much every CBE school I've been in recently has those water bottle refill stations - YYC couldn't even do that?

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by casper

It was a fail the moment they had to give it a name (CtG), create a web page to describe how it works and go on social media to explain how it works.

What do Calgarians do when they travel to airports where call to gate is the norm?

[jmt18325]

Anything with a name and website is a failure - good to know.

[jmt18325]

People will get used to it - no big deal.

[CalgaryCheese]

Originally Posted by Cage

Short answer, it depends on the passengers itinerary.

Long answer:

Most passengers arriving from Europe or USA can clear through one stop security provided they have the correct airline, origin, and destination combination.

Passengers from USA or Europe go to the ITB connection Center and proceeds to either the nexus or APC kiosk. Next step is to be evaluated by CBSA officer at either desk 3 or 4. If the passenger meets OSS requirements and is not cleared for secondary inspection, the CBSA officer will open a door that leads to an escalator for the YYC link D/E station. The passenger will then enter either domestic airside area or the international airside area.

If the passenger does not have OSS or arrives from an Asian destination, they will go through normal connections process and retrieve their luggage. Once through CBSA formalities, the passenger will walk along the publicly accessible connections corridor and up an escalator to a special two lane security station for domestic and internationals connections passengers who require CATSA security clearance. Once they have exited security, the passenger is at the D/E link station.

For USA to USA connections, there is an elevator that will take passengers to USCBP (these pax will still have to present a passport to USCBP). This same elevator can be used for international to USA connections that do not require to be seen by CBSA. The connections Center is sorting hat for these types of workflow.

Domestic to international connections proceed along the YYC Link to a customer care desk locate after the D/E link terminus station. The customer care desk will approve entry into the international concourse D.

For domestic to USA connections, the pax goes to the customer care desk mentioned above. Once into the international concourse, the passenger can go through duty free shop to get to USCBP.

That's great to know, thanks for that!

Originally Posted by Tobuz

The one water-refill-station-slash-janitor's-bucket-station??

It's absolutely humiliating that at one of the largest transport hubs in the country, this is where people are being told to fill their water bottles!

[casper]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

Anything with a name and website is a failure - good to know.

Not everything...

Some examples of things that are failures if they need a name and a website:

- using an elevator
- opening a car door
- dropping off dry cleaning
- catching a bus
- waling from security to your gate.

If you design a public space like an airport correctly, it should trivial to use without having to read the instructions. I would bet that of those people sitting by the gate waiting for a flight well over 70 percent have been to an airport before in the previous 5 years and remember the basics in using an airport.

[Tobuz]

Originally Posted by suburbia

What do Calgarians do when they travel to airports where call to gate is the norm?

Uhh, they quite successfully navigate the airport as intended, because the building design, the curb-to-gate process flow, the monitors, and the wayfinding signage all make it abundantly clear and intuitive?? And, as a result, they don't end up thinking they have no choice but to sit on the floor by a gate?

(None of which has sufficiently been accomplished at YYC yet.)

[Tobuz]

Originally Posted by casper

If you design a public space like an airport correctly, it should trivial to use without having to read the instructions.

Exactly. Well stated.

If the terminal had been designed with a firm understanding of user behaviours and user expectations at the core of their design process, YYC could have come up with any curb-to-gate process they wanted ... the traditional one, or CtG, or even some brand new system nobody's ever heard of or seen before anywhere. If properly designed, it would be easy and intuitive for everyone regardless of whether or not it was CtG. Because that ultimately is one of the core requirements when designing a large public space like an airport -- it must be easy and intuitive for a large number of very diverse users.

That would have meant no floor-sitting, because the design (not instructions) would either guide those people elsewhere, or would put seats where people want to sit.

And the design process would have included an understanding of how many people would want to refill their own water bottles - a very common occurrence in 2016 -plus an understanding of where in their footpath they'd be most likely to look for a fountain to do that. So the people who want water would be able to find it quickly and easily.

And nobody would have ever needed to craft instructions to be posted on the airport's website.

[jmt18325]

I think you guys are too concerned about what is an ultimate first world problem. People will adapt as they understand the system.

[Blader]

Instructions are an art.
Just a bit of humour

A conversation I overheard in now concourse C.

Traveler: Where are the clocks?
Agent: look up, they're below the ceiling
Traveler: What a strange place to put them!
Agent: Well Mam, they used to be on the floor but people kept tripping over them so they moved them to the ceiling.

[CalgaryCheese]

Originally Posted by Blader

Instructions are an art.
Just a bit of humour

A conversation I overheard in now concourse C.

Traveler: Where are the clocks?
Agent: look up, they're below the ceiling
Traveler: What a strange place to put them!
Agent: Well Mam, they used to be on the floor but people kept tripping over them so they moved them to the ceiling.

[jmt18325]

Lol third world problem - boy I'm an idiot.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Tobuz

Exactly. Well stated.

If the terminal had been designed with a firm understanding of user behaviours and user expectations at the core of their design process, YYC could have come up with any curb-to-gate process they wanted ... the traditional one, or CtG, or even some brand new system nobody's ever heard of or seen before anywhere. If properly designed, it would be easy and intuitive for everyone regardless of whether or not it was CtG. Because that ultimately is one of the core requirements when designing a large public space like an airport -- it must be easy and intuitive for a large number of very diverse users.

That would have meant no floor-sitting, because the design (not instructions) would either guide those people elsewhere, or would put seats where people want to sit.

And the design process would have included an understanding of how many people would want to refill their own water bottles - a very common occurrence in 2016 -plus an understanding of where in their footpath they'd be most likely to look for a fountain to do that. So the people who want water would be able to find it quickly and easily.

And nobody would have ever needed to craft instructions to be posted on the airport's website.

I agree completely. On the positive side.....

I think the good news is they designed and built a exceptionally nice looking terminal.

The water situation can be fixed. It involves spending a bit of money but in the grand scheme of things relative to the cost of the terminal it is not a big deal.

The CtG is a weird problem. They experimented with something new. From an airport designer operator perspective it make a lot of sense. From a passenger perspective it is to complex. They need to go back to "There are seats in the food court, there are seats by the gates, sit where you want to if we under allocated seats in some area, over the coming months will figure it our and get that fixed."

Transfers sound like they are lot better and potentially ahead of the curve relative to Toronto or Vancouver.