In last night’s presidential debates, Republican candidate Donald Trump made mention of United States airports, something I cannot recall happening in past presidential debates. He observed in comparison to other world airports, such at Dubai, our airports in the U.S. are like third-world airports. Having traveled extensively, I feel our airports are quite nice, and that tremendous efforts have been made to both update infrastructure and the customer experience. No airport is perfect, and if you arrive at one during a significant improvement project, it can seem like you are traveling through one big construction zone. Now, our airports would certainly benefit from some additional capital (something some nations are more generous about) and there has been tension around who should contribute that capital and by what means. At the same time, and you all know this, we have dedicated individuals and groups who are making sure our airports exceed industry expectations. And if you want one simple step to help our airports stand out from the rest of the world, smile.

In a research article published in January 2106 by Springer Science+Business Media, “Do we feel safer today? The impact of smiling customer service on airline safety perception post 9–11”, authors Joyce A. Hunter and Jason R. Lambert discovered, “Although airline passengers are increasingly using self-service options for check-in, accessing WiFi and enjoying the benefit of other technological advances, the value of a genuine smile from an airline employee makes the difference between customer loyalty and satisfaction and losing customers to the competition.” Can it really be as simple as a smile? According to this study, a smile was the difference between passengers feeling safe and secure or not. Now a smile won’t make up for capital deficiencies. A smile won’t turn our older facilities into gleaming wonders. A smile won’t make up for the generous state funding some other world airports receive. But a smile will help people feel a better. A smile will help generate positive emotions. A smile will provide them with a positive experience. And ultimately, that’s what we want them to have, isn’t it? Now, can our presidential candidates follow suit?