As a Travelers Aid volunteer, I often think no problem is too big for to attack. Some traveler queries are simple, yet some can be complicated. A big lesson I have taken from my now six years of volunteering with Travelers Aid at Dulles Airport in suburban Washington D.C. is the right way to attack an issue may not always be the most obvious. The route to a solution is rarely the same, keeping me on my toes, eager to face new challenges.
On March 14, 2015, I had to completely simplify my attempt to help answer my usual hundreds of questions. It was also spring break in some parts around the country, so the airport was busier then a typical March Saturday. At about 1 p.m., the overhead lights flickered and the double set of escalators leading to the AeroTrain stop located underground stopped. After flickering, the lights and power stayed off and did not come back on until almost 4 p.m.
It was a fairly sunny day, so the power outage certainly was not weather related, as it took officials several hours to determine the cause of the outage. After going completely off, we quickly determined by word of mouth the power was out throughout most of the airport, including all four midfield concourses that service flights.
Virtually everything in our B Terminal was left useless. Stores could only make cash transactions, restaurants had to shut down since they couldn't cook meals, escalators and elevators were not working, and there was no Internet access leaving the barrage of flight monitors blank. Additionally, there were numerous delays as airline computers faced problems with the power outage. Dulles could receive some arriving flights, though most were unable to depart the airport with the outage.
Travelers came to my podium in droves asking about their flights, yet we could do very little to assist them. This helpless feeling is one no customer service employee wants to have. Fortunately, most travelers were good sports about the situation knowing there was not much we could do about it. Travelers mostly wanted to know what stores were open or if there flights were going to depart on time. With no ability to check, we had to assure travelers the problem was being looked at quickly by airport officials and would hopefully be resolved quickly.
One issue that seemed to be the most troublesome for Travelers was the escalators and elevators not working. In order to get in or out of the B Terminal, travelers had go up or down a series of extraordinarily long escalators that lead to and from the Aero Train that connects the airport's terminals. With no elevators in use, people were forced to climb the long escalators to reach their terminals.
For older passengers, it presented a tough task of walking up the seemingly never-ending escalators on with their various luggage and other bags. With the various baggage fees associated with checking bags today, meaning many people had several bags they had to carry up the escalator. We did our best by guiding travelers up the escalators by helping with their bags and giving them time to take a breather when reaching the top.
Additionally, airport fire and police personnel were dispatched to staff the Terminals to assist any passengers by literally carrying any traveler in a wheel chair up the escalators. While unable to find information about the outage online, I used the emergency personnel stationed to help find information about the outage through their radios and the status of departing flights that I was unable find with the lack of Internet.
Ultimately, many questions and other things on this frustrating day had to be dealt with the old-fashioned way. Instead of looking up a flight schedule using our Travelers Aid issued iPad, we had to use the flight schedule binder, which lists each flight individually. This was a much more tedious task then simply using the web.
When the power was restored, it was determined two separate local power surges caused the airport-wide outage that caused enough headaches for a year. The escalators began running and airline staff began to process flights again. A memory that will always stick with me is the line of about 50 people that began to form outside of Chipotle in Terminal B when they began to re-open. It was a light moment from an otherwise stressful day that left me leaving the airport with a smile.