Service Unit is Saving Grace for Airport Customers

By Alvin Benn, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.

May 19–BIRMINGHAM — You’re running late and worried you might not make it to the airport on time.

Can you find a spot to pull in, lug your suitcases through the cavernous parking deck and get to the check-in counter without missing your flight?

Somehow, you make it. You’ve boarded on time and now you’re back in Birmingham — but, where in the world did you park your car in a seven-story lot containing 5,600 cars, trucks and vans?

Those are dilemmas confronting people arriving at or departing from big city airports, but assistance is always just around the corner at the parking deck in Alabama’s biggest city.

The Birmingham International Airport ‘s 20-member customer service unit works around the clock to lend a hand for frantic people with a myriad of problems.

Their job is to see that passengers get from the parking deck to the terminal, help find their car when they return, inflate flat tires, charge batteries, pour gasoline into empty tanks, comfort crying babies and then tip their caps without asking for a tip.

Sam Wiggins, who directs parking and ground transportation at Alabama ‘s largest airport, said his employees feel as good as the people they help.

“This is such a huge place that people can become disoriented as to where they parked their car or truck,” said Wiggins, a retired biology teacher. “It’s our job to assist them when they have a problem.”

Wiggins believes his operation may be the only one of its kind in the country or certainly one of only a handful created to help discombobulated people on the verge of panic inside one of the parking decks.

His employees work seven days a week as they drive their battery-operated golf carts to make sure somebody is always available if needed. The airport authority has also placed telephones throughout the parking facility for easy access to Wiggins’ crew.

“Some people have a fear of flying and when they’re late in getting here or can’t find their car when they land, it only adds to their anxiety,” said Wiggins. “It’s our job to relieve that anxiety.”

Take, for instance, the time a 4-year-old boy left his teddy bear on an airport shuttle bus. His mother was as distraught as her son over the loss of “Cubby.”

The stuffed bear was quickly located after the boy’s mother called Wiggins’ office. It turned out to be Christmas in March for the family.

“I know that they probably have a million things to do a day, but they were willing to give their time to help out a little boy who was in great distress,” the mother wrote Wiggins. “Their kindness and compassion were a breath of fresh air in an increasingly impersonal world.”

Letters like that arrive all the time at Wiggins’ office and it makes him feel as great as members of his crew who do good deeds all the time. Many central Alabama residents drive to the Birmingham airport each year and “anxiety” is a good word to describe their journey up Interstate 65, especially during rush hour for morning flights. Finding a parking spot can be a hassle, too.

It’s just as confusing for local people because they often have the same problem, especially when it comes to finding vehicles after they get back.

Last October, a Birmingham lawyer arrived back home at 11 p.m. and didn’t remember where he parked his car.

Along came one of the customer service employees who drove him around the parking deck — level after level for about 90 minutes. The attorney probably passed his car several times without recognizing it among all the others that looked just like it.

“He even stayed after his shift was over to help me find my car,” the relieved lawyer wrote a few days later. “He was patient and courteous and without his assistance, I would probably still be looking for my car.”

It’s mindful of the classic Kingston Trio song about Charlie, the man who didn’t have another nickel to get off the subway in Boston: “He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston, he’s the man who never returned,” the trio sang.

The Birmingham lawyer was in a golf cart instead of a subway car, but he may well have been humming that tune if not for one of “Wiggins’ Warriors” who helped him locate his car before a new day dawned.

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Copyright (c) 2008, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.

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