Ralph Cutié, director and chief executive officer of Miami International Airport (MIA), knows you only get one chance to make a first impression. For most people visiting Miami, whether coming for business, fun or a mix of both, that first impression occurs at the city’s bustling airport.
Cutié also understands that the most impactful and lasting impressions are made through human interaction. So, while MIA is investing nearly $9 billion in maintenance upgrades and capital improvements over the next 10 years, it also launched a $10 million program to add maintenance staff and is providing comprehensive customer service training for frontline workers at the airport.
The training campaign—I AM MIA—includes all airport employees as well as those working for its airlines, concession providers and other partners. With support from the office of Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and leadership at the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, airport leadership is demonstrating a tangible commitment to the often-used phrase “people are our greatest asset.”
 facts&figures
Project: Improving Customer Service Location: Miami Int’l Airport 2023 Passenger Volume: 52.3 million Airport Owner: Miami-Dade County Aviation Dept. Customer Service Training Program: I AM MIA Participation: All current & future Aviation Dept. workers must complete training; all new employees of airport partners must complete training to receive security clearance Key Partners: Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Office helped create training program; Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau conducts training Associated Effort: Lightning Crews augment maintenance staff to replace burned out light bulbs, fix damaged ceiling tiles, etc. Cost: About $10 million budgeted to add 135 new workers Key Objectives: Equip & empower airport workers with skills & knowledge to make every customer interaction memorable & positive |
During a July 2024 ceremony announcing the campaign, Mayor Levine Cava joined Cutié in emphasizing the importance of customer service from all airport personnel:
“Just as we are making unprecedented investments to upgrade and modernize the MIA facility, we are also investing like never before in customer service training at our county’s largest economic engine,” said the mayor. “With travel up 10% at MIA this year, which puts us on pace for a new annual record of 58 million passengers, leaving a positive and lasting impression on each visitor to Miami-Dade County is more important now than ever.”
Cutié added, “The idea is to train all our workers and all our stakeholders to treat airport users with the same level of care that you would provide to your family. The goal is to get everybody on the same page when it comes to customer service.”
Following the ceremonial kickoff, more than 70 Miami-Dade Aviation Department administrators and supervisors were the first to participate in the training course. Content was developed by the Convention and Visitors Bureau to equip and empower MIA’s workforce with the skills and knowledge necessary to make every customer interaction memorable and positive.
More training sessions occurred this fall, some in person and others via on-demand video. The one-hour program is required for all current employees of the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department (about 1,500 workers) as well as future hires. Cutié says the ultimate goal is to have all staff of airport partners—about 37,000 workers in all—complete the training, too.
A Valued Partner
Training is led by Convention and Visitors Bureau employees with experience in the hospitality industry, and content is designed to build top-notch customer service skills. Rolando Aedo, chief operating officer of the Bureau, notes that the I AM MIA program evolved from a similar training program initiated by his organization in 2009.
That campaign, titled Miami Begins with Me, has trained more than 25,000 employees of key service businesses throughout the community, including hotels, restaurants, taxi providers, the seaport and airport. The training focuses on customer service excellence, as well as Miami history and heritage, the economic impact of tourism, inclusivity and awareness.
Previously, the Convention and Visitors Bureau tailored the Miami Begins with Me training to include specific aspects of airport work and customer encounters, and it became part of MIA’s onboarding program until the COVID-19 pandemic put that and other training on pause. The new I AM MIA initiative resumes and enhances that training.
“We recognize the airport is our welcome mat,” Aedo explains. “While Miami is known as a world-class destination because of our beaches, our hotels and our restaurants, we want to make sure we match that with excellent customer service.
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“The airport has always been a critical partner of ours,” he adds. “Their infrastructure is improving dramatically, and now the ‘software’—their people—are going to improve along with it. We want people to not just deliver great customer service, but to be ambassadors of the community in which they live.”
Positive Lightning Strikes
Customer service training is the second phase of the I AM MIA campaign. The first was implemented last March, when specially trained airport maintenance workers called Lightning Crews began patrolling the terminal to identify and address maintenance issues. The workers replace burned out lights and damaged ceiling tiles, repair bathroom faucets and tackle other relatively easy maintenance issues that are in the public eye.
The original Lightning Crews consisted of existing employees who received overtime to participate in the new program. The Miami-Dade County Aviation Department has since approved a budget with more than $10 million for 135 additional Lightning Crew team members. By fall 2024, about 60 had already been hired and deployed.
Lightning Crews are primarily designed to augment existing maintenance staff, but they are also deployed for other missions as well. In July, when a CrowdStrike software update disrupted airports and other businesses nationwide, MIA dispatched its Lightning Crews to assist stranded travelers.
“We had long rebooking lines and a lot of flight cancellations,” Cutié recalls. “As soon as it happened—at 4:35 in the morning—we called in our Lightning Crews. Instead of addressing maintenance issues, they were helping people in lines, passing out water, helping people locate gates…whatever they could do to help.”
The introduction of Lightning Crews aligns with significant investments MIA is making to update its infrastructure. A $7.4 billion capital improvement initiative is expanding the terminal, concourses and gates. In addition, the $1.7 billion Modernization In Action program includes:
- $235 million to replace more than 125 passenger boarding bridges;
- $100+ million to renovate about half of the 447 restrooms in the terminal;
- $681 million to upgrade and modernize escalators, elevators and moving walkways;
- $130 million to replace about 430,000 square feet of roofing; and
- a $547 million electrical infrastructure hardening program to replace backup generators, etc.
From March through July, airport Lightning teams completed more than 3,500 tasks—an average of 23 per day.
Strong Return on Investment
The impact of programs to improve customer service and satisfaction can often be hard to measure. Not so with I AM MIA. Cutié reports that between April and June 2024, the airport’s overall customer satisfaction score reported by J.D. Power jumped by 23 points. In the terminal facilities category, MIA’s customer satisfaction score increased by 45 points.
“That gives us a good indication at an early stage that it’s working,” he says, adding that the airport also received far fewer complaints via social media than in the past several months.
Cynics from outside the industry may wonder why customer satisfaction programs like I AM MIA are important, because some consider travelers a captive audience. But Cutié and other airport directors emphasize the importance of providing customers a stellar experience.
“Ninety-eight percent of all Miami-Dade’s visitors come through the airport, and about 60% of the state’s international visitors come through MIA. We are the first impression people get of our city. It behooves us to put our best foot forward,” says Cutié. “At the end of the day, if you’re going to be the gateway to the Americas, if you’re going to be the first and last impression that people have when traveling, we want to make sure that impression is a good one. We want return business.”
