Airports are now better equipped to deal with traumatised customers thanks to the introduction of airport care teams.
Speaking at the ABTA Crisis Management seminar last week Eclypse consultant Phil Warren, who deals with emergency planning and training, said the teams are made up from volunteer staff members and there are now three in the UK based at Cardiff, Belfast and Manchester airports.
He said each of the teams has been set up after recent incidents proved a need for them and argued that travel firms should start building bonds with them now should they need assistance in dealing with their customers in a crisis.
Warren said: “95% of all incidents that the airport care team have been involved in are accident-related incidents.”
He added since its inception in Cardiff the team has dealt with a number of varied incidents from a departing holidaymaker who started self-harming following an argument with her boyfriend to caring for a man whose elderly wife died as the plane they had boarded took off.
Warren urged delegates to make contact with the teams who will help whenever possible, adding: “It’s for when you need to provide something a bit more personal for your customers and the teams will do it for you.”