The Hold Room

Today in the Hold Room we get to hear all of the wonderful responses throughout Seasons 1 and 2 to “What is your favorite airport bathroom?” We learned very early on that the bathroom experience makes a big difference in the overall passenger experience of an airport. Some of the responses we heard repeatedly and some responses are unique and specific to one airport. We hope you enjoy this light-h...

Today in the Hold Room we are talking to Michael Lindsey and Brandon Thrasher of HLB about equity in lighting and what an impact lighting can have on the passenger experience. What we learn is that it’s not just the lighting itself that can influence a person’s emotions in a space, but its impacts on the surrounding spaces, backgrounds, textures, and the interplay of natural lighting and electric/...

Today in the Hold Room Laura and Carrie talk with Director of Transit at Dimensional Innovations Paul Martin. Dimensional Innovations specializes in creating immersive experiences and tackling facility specific problems. Laura and Carrie dive deep on the simulation flight Dimensional Innovations provides for MCI – Kansas City International Airport to accommodate first time passengers and those who...

Hello from the American Association of Airport Executives conference in Denver, Colorado. Janelle Aslam conducted live interviews at the conference in June 2023 and we are excited to hear from Tommy Bibb, Aviation Consultant and prior AVP Operations and Maintenance at Nashville Airport Authority; Marco Toscano, Director of Customer Experience at Denver International Airport; and Joseph Kennedy, Bu...

What does a Chair/Vice Chair for the 2024 Symposium do? Come and find out from Carrie Shaeffer, Chris Spaulding, and Asia Johnson. In addition to the logistics behind how a conference is organized, learn more about the two plenary sessions of the 2024 Symposium including Artificial Intelligence and Vertical Takeoff and Landing at airports and how they relate to two upcoming Olympics! The Hold Room...

What does a Program Manager for the 2024 Symposium do? Come and find out from James Gerrald and Bailey Bulls, as they help organize one of aviation’s biggest conferences. Also tune in to find out what is new this year and recommendations and strategies of what a first-time Symposium attendee can do to maximize the experience. The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 18 – James Gerrald and Bailey Bills Tran...

Learn about what interesting subject matters will be covered in the 2024 Symposium Project Management (PM) and Construction Management (CM) Track. Track hosts Melvin Price, Senior Associate Principal ORAT Practice Lead at Jacobs, and Annabelle Tran, Project Manager at Jacobs, share about their backgrounds in PM/CM and what they are looking to share and takeaway from Symposium. Melvin and Annabelle...

The 2024 Symposium Planning Track hosts talk about their sessions, including advanced air mobility and electric aircraft, capital and facility planning, runways to real estate, Environmental Hot Topics, which is always well attended, and moving to a greener future. There are a lot of changes happening in planning and environmental that we get to hear about! The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 16 – Mel...

The 2024 Symposium Engineering and Airside Track hosts share their sessions including Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), changes in materials and techniques, and PFAS. Please join us today to hear about the session topics and thoughts that went into picking these topics. The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 15 – Curtis Brown and Danielle Tran Transcript [Introduction] TJ: Welcome to The Hold Room with ACC: a...

The 2024 ACC/AAAE Planning, Design and Construction Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 5 th through 7 th is featuring the new Innovation Track. This track is a combination of AAAE, Innovation topics, and heavy Young Professionals involvement. Please join us today to hear about the session topics and thoughts that went into making robust and relevant topics for all age groups. The Hold Room...

We are kicking off a new part of our season to talk about the upcoming 2024 ACC/AAAE Planning, Design and Construction Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 5 th through 7 th . The next few episodes will include interviews with the track hosts as well as conference leadership. Please join us today to talk to the Terminal and Landside Track hosts Enrique Melendez and Jack Walfish. The Hold Roo...

Dan Seeley and Allison Hawk talk about the Tampa International Airport changes including installing an Express Lane for passengers with only carry-on bags. The conversation centered around finding this creative solution and how best to phase construction while maintaining operation and the challenges of new construction coming within close proximity to existing structures.

Today Carrie is joined by Airport Consultant Members Matthew Wenham of C&S Companies, Belinda Hargrove of TransSolutions and Linell Olecki of AECOM to hear about their experiences at ACC Annual. This year’s conference is in Vancouver, Canada November 1st-3rd. To learn why attending ACC Annual is a valuable experience, please give this episode a listen to hear from ACC members of their experiences...

Today Carrie and Laura are joined by Hersh Parekh, Director of Government and Community Relations at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who shares insights into successful Community relations, what goes into setting WBE goals, benefits of having local employees, and some of the upcoming programs. The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 10 – Hersh Parekh Transcript [Introduction] TJ: Welcome to...

Today Max is joined by Carrie Shaeffer, Director of Aviation at Swinerton Builders and Board Members for the Airport Consultants Council. In this episode, Carrie shares best practices for managing a construction project at an airport and highlights the benefits of being involved with the Airport Consultants Council. The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 9 Transcript TJ: Welcome to The Hold Room with ACC...

Joining Anita and Carrie in the Hold Room, Dan Barton with InterVISTAS gives an overview of the airport rental car industry. He talks about recent airport rental car market trends, recent and emerging technologies, rental car fleet electrification and its impact on the power grid, and how electrification factors into the passenger experience. Episode Transcription: https://training.acconline.org/t...

Today Carrie and Max from ACC are joined by Laura Benson Jones and Annabelle Klein from the Executive Board at Flight Club 502. In this episode Laura and Annabelle will discuss strategies for engaging young individuals on topics related to aviation from engineering to becoming a pilot. They are helping develop future leaders, while promoting engagement in the industry. The Hold Room, Season 2 Epis...

Today’s episode comes from the 2023 ACC/AAAE Planning, Design, and Construction Symposium in Anaheim, California. Laura Canham and Carrie Wojcik asked people about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and they delivered! Here’s what we learned from Cole Hartfiel, Senior Airport Planner at Sacramento County Department of Airports; Tambre Moten, Airport Accessibility Manager at Houston Ai...

In this episode of the Hold Room, Courtney Pene at San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport talks about how the airport is enriching the passenger experience by engaging perspectives from multiple stakeholders, including their own diverse staff, addressing family travel needs and implementing various initiatives to help ease the stress of navigating airports. The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 5 – Cou...

Max and Laura talk to Angela Berry-Roberson, Vice President of Civil Rights Advisory Services and Compliance for WSP, about tackling accessibility and equity at airports concerning signage, language needs, walking distances to TNCs, and her experiences from a civil rights attorney’s perspective. The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 4 Transcript [Introduction] TJ: Welcome to The Hold Room with ACC: a qu...

Kisa and Max talk to Anthony Barnes, Chief Operating Officer the Airport Minority Advisory Council or AMAC. He emphasizes the world that technology can play while underscoring the value of personal interaction in creating a positive passenger experience. The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 3 Transcript [Introduction] TJ: Welcome to The Hold Room with ACC: a quick update on all things relating to airpo...

The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 2 Transcript [Introduction] TJ: Welcome to The Hold Room with ACC: a quick update on all things relating to airport development as well as the Airport Consultants Council. Laura: This episode is part of the Passenger Experience series hosted by ACC’s Terminal and Facilities Committee. In this series, we are collecting the experiences and perspectives about the futur...

Season 2’s focus is on the changing demographics in the United States and their impact on travel, technology, and what the future may look like. The Hold Room, Season 2 Episode 1 Transcript [Introduction] TJ: Welcome to The Hold Room with ACC: a quick update on all things relating to airport development as well as the Airport Consultants Council. Laura: Welcome to episode one of our second season...

Many successful airports engage in broad and diverse outreach programs to their local communities. In this episode of The Hold Room, Drinal Foster joins Laura and Max to talk about her involvement with such a program: the Traveler Advisory Committee, or the TAC, sponsored by Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. An avid traveler, Drinal shares what she brings to the TAC through her persona...

Laura and Max chat with Cody Shulman, Managing Director at Xovis, about how people-flow technology plays a role in the passenger experience at various locations in the airport where queuing and crowding typically occur. The Hold Room, Episode 21 – Cody Shulman Transcript [Introduction] TJ: Welcome to The Hold Room with ACC: a quick update on all things relating to airport development as well as th...