As part of their Leisure and Tourism GCSE, 18 pupils from Woolmer Hill visited British Airways Headquarters at Waterside, Heathrow on 8 June. The purpose of the visit was to find out about customer service for cabin crew and Check-in staff. The day was run by BA cabin crew and the pupils were also given a tour of BA’s £200 million International Headquarters at Waterside.

Pupils learned about the importance of customer service to BA and how to deliver effective customer service, with a focus on attitude, behaviour, personal presentation, verbal and non-verbal communication, posture, presence and pro-activeness. On board a mock aircraft, pupils took the opportunity to deliver the onboard welcome announcement and carry out the safety presentation and checks before departure.

Pupils were also able to perform a number of role plays based on a variety of air and ground scenarios with a wide range of customer types. These were conducted at a mock check-in desk and on board the mock aircraft cabin under the watchful eye of BA cabin crew, who kindly fed back constructive comments.

Dave Clayton, their teacher and Head of Humanities at Woolmer Hill, organised the visit and accompanied the pupils on the trip. He said, “The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the day and several certainly shone through as natural in the delivery of excellent customer service. It was a chance for them to see how the ‘real world’ should deal with customers in this important industry to the leisure and tourism trade and to try it out for themselves. I was also very proud that the BA staff commented on how well prepared the pupils were and what a credit they had been to the school.”