TUI to close UK airport information desks
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Thomson and First Choice are due to close their information desks at UK airports from December, it has been unveiled.
The travel company’s director of customer services Carl Gissing told Travel Daily the move is part of its strategy to provide “modern, unique and expertly designed holiday experiences” through its online channels, with many customers now finding information on its website before heading to airports.
Its check-in desks will remain in airports and some desks will remain open specifically for cruise passengers (as reported by the Wales Air Forum), with a staff from ground handlers available to help customers. TUI said the changes would not affect its face to face customer service.
“We are committed to delivering excellent face to face customer service throughout the customer journey, especially at UK airports. Thomson and First Choice always strive to offer customers a wide variety of channels to book their holiday and manage their booking. A key part of our business strategy is offering modern, unique and expertly designed holiday experiences for our customers and moving towards more online based channels supports this strategy. For example, customers are now able to look at reviews of hotels, book excursions and upgrade their seats on our aircraft using the ‘MyThomson’ website – much of the information customers need is now at their fingertips before they even set off for the airport,” explained Gissing.
“We will ensure that the changes, due to take place in December, will not affect the service we have historically provided using information desks, and we are working closely with our ground handling agents so that a number of dedicated staff will be available in airports to give customers information should they need it,” he added.
TUI currently flies from 20 airports in the UK.