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News
Travel Agents Voice Support For Massport Passenger Standards
3/14/2001
The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) expressed its "deepest
appreciation" for the Massachusetts Port Authority's (Massport)
Guaranteed Passenger Standards Program, a first-in-the-nation program
designed to hold airlines accountable for delivering basic customer
services to Logan International Airport's 27 million passengers a
year.
In a letter to Mark E. Robinson, chairman of the Massport Board, ASTA
President and CEO Richard M. Copland, wrote " We welcome your
pioneering efforts among airports seeking to improve today's
unfortunate state of air passenger service."
Under Massport's Guaranteed Passenger Standards program, a number
of services will be monitored and evaluated at Logan, including
baggage delivery, ticketing waiting lines, and accuracy of flight
information during delays or cancellations.
"It is especially welcome and encouraging, therefore, that Logan
has launched its program with the objectives of improving customer
service. Clearly, in the absence of airline cooperation, airport,
travel agents, and other components of the travel system will have to
become more aggressive on behalf of the consumer," wrote Copland.
The standards were determined by examining the airlines' own goals. On
a random basis, Massport staff will survey up to 12 airlines a month
to ascertain if they are meeting Logan's customer standards for
various passenger services.
ASTA has more than 15,000 members in the U.S. The Society is the
world's largest and most influential travel trade association with
over 26,000 members in more than 170 countries
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