Yvonne Melford, customer services manager for Singapore Airlines at London Heathrow, talks to Sara Turner
5.30am I start work at 5.30am-6am if I’m on an early shift. I oversee the whole customer experience – I’ll look after an inbound and outbound flight, an A380 from and to Singapore, and before my day is finished the second aircraft, a B777, is coming in.
I eat a bowl of cereal at my desk while I go through my emails. It’s my early morning, but for Singapore it’s the end of the day. If people need something answered I can do it within their working day. I can achieve quite a lot first thing in the morning – the phones are ringing a lot less than later on, so it allows me to get on with my paperwork.
I’ve been with Singapore Airlines for 36 years and have seen so many changes. You just think: can we get anything bigger into the sky and, more importantly, can we look after it on the ground? Surprisingly, it all works – like a swan gliding across a lake. But there’s a lot being done behind the scenes to make that smooth transition.
Heathrow is like a small city, and within each terminal you get to know people really well. It doesn’t matter that there is competition between the airlines – when it comes down to it, there is a real feeling of community.
8.45am I go down to see how the check-in team are doing. Usually they won’t need me, but occasionally something may need my attention, such as people with excess baggage. That can become quite heated.
9.30am I’m usually at the gate from now, which is quite early but our service partners are already setting up for the passengers. The crew are preparing the aircraft, checking the meals and carrying out security checks. I make sure the plane is being loaded and that fuelling is under way.
9.55am This is the latest we will open the gate, an hour before the flight is due to leave. My role is just being there as part of the team. We depend on many processes and systems working, but if they’re not, that’s when I’m doing a lot of phone calls, running around to sort things out.
I check everything is fine with the crew. The engineers also report to me, but only if there is a problem, as I need to know if I’ve got to delay boarding. Then there are caterers to deal with, and Panasonic, who look after our in-flight entertainment. There’s a lot to come together, and if it’s not happening, guess who looks after that? Communication is so important.
10.15am Passengers start boarding. It’s usually now that they realise they’ve lost something – their passport, or their bag. Or they have questions about onward connections.
10.55am The plane leaves the gate. I keep my radio with me, switching it on to the air traffic control signal so I can hear the pilots prepare for take-off. Then I’m on to all my other jobs. I look after our lounges, so will often go there to watch the flight take off. I make sure the lounge looks okay and talk to the staff about any issues.
12 noon Back to my desk, where there’s more paperwork and emails to deal with. The afternoon is spent doing all the other things I need to do – I oversee staff appraisals, budgets and monthly reports, and also look after cabin crew while they’re in the UK, dealing with their welfare.
3.30pm My shift finishes for the day, and if I’m lucky I’ll leave on time, but I’m also here if there is a problem with the afternoon or evening flights. If I’m on a late shift I will see off the 6.15pm flight, and then oversee the turnaround of our third and final flight of the day, which departs at 10.05pm.
After hours Occasionally, there are things from the day I carry around in my head. If I’ve had a particularly difficult encounter with somebody, as much as I know their comments are directed at the bigger picture, it sometimes becomes quite personal. That’s upsetting. It can take a little while to switch off.
On occasion I’ve had to come back to the airport. Once I was woken up at 2am when we had a medical emergency and the plane had to turn around and come back to Heathrow. It helps to live nearby.
Next issue: operations director at London Heathrow’s T5
