UK. Thomas Cook Airlines cabin crew were recognised for their exceptional customer service and commercial results at the inaugural OMG! Awards organised by Alpha LSG this week.
The masquerade ball gala dinner and awards ceremony closed the two-day conference (22-23 April) for Thomas Cook Airlines cabin crew and management at the Tortworth Court Hotel in South Gloucestershire. The evening event was attended by over 130 cabin crew, inflight retail suppliers, Thomas Cook Airlines and Alpha LSG management (The Moodie Report attended the gala night).
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Cara Tunstall receives her Special Recognition Award |
The awards and conference, combined with a pioneering training programme, formed part of a strategic initiative to help increase inflight sales.
The conference included team-building activities and supplier showcases, all based on the theme of Alice in Wonderland: Eat Me, Drink Me, Wear Me, Smell Me. Activities included a fashion show sponsored by Nicolas Feuillatte and brand experiences including a Drink Up session sponsored by Britvic, an Eat Me session sponsored by Haribo and The Fragrance Academy by Heinemann and Starbucks.
The masquerade ball’s entertainment included a strobe light duo act and a pre-dinner Drinks Reception sponsored by Bottega and Brown Forman.
Alpha LSG Chief Operating Officer Alex Forbes said: “A key part of our role is to help Thomas Cook Airlines develop an inflight retail offering that really appeals to their customers and is profitable. Acting as our front-line sales team, cabin crew have a crucial part to play in this strategy and we are committed to supporting their endeavours through our new training programme, and recognising and rewarding their successes through our awards scheme.”
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Highest Average Spend Per Head Winner Dean Alexander receives a cheque for £1,000 from Thomas Cook Airlines Chief Operating Officer Cor Vrieswijk and Alpha LSG Chief Operating Officer Alex Forbes |
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All the winners celebrate their achievements on stage |
Head of Cabin Services for Thomas Cook Airlines Maggie Kennedy added: “This fantastic event has been a real inspiration to the team, ahead of the forthcoming summer season which sees the launch of our new routes to New York and Miami and more new aircraft in our fleet. Recognising the success of our great team and combining a real focus on serving our customers can only help us give an ever better service in 2015.”
There were a total of ten awards presented at the gala dinner, culminating in the night’s most sought-after award, Highest Average Spend Per Head Winner, won by Belfast-based Dean Alexander. The runner-up was Andrea Kent of Manchester.
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Other award winners were:
Top Incentive Winner – Tamara Henderson (Stansted and Gatwick)
Best base with the Highest Incentive Participation (Cardiff)
Special Recognition Award for Commitment to Incentives – Aron Wallis (Birmingham)
Special Recognition Award for Creative Cart Top Displays – Cara Tunstall (Manchester)
Special Recognition Award for Commitment to Sales Feedback – Spencer Ritson (Gatwick)
Best Golden Ticket Entry (for designing a magazine cover on why he deserved to attend the two-day event) – Ben Tindall (Birmingham)
OMG! Outstanding Positive Approach to Learning & Sales – Angela McKeever (Manchester), Daniel Opila (Condor) and Estelle Cheers (Newcastle)
Special Mention Award, Commitment & Dedication – Matthew Taylor-Fray & Jo Whinder (Manchester)
Alpha LSG Inflight Retail & Managed Services Director Alan Hayes, who emceed the event, said: “The passion and the fire of the cabin crew at Thomas Cook is nothing but admirable, and that passion and will to succeed and exceed is what has made this partnership the success that it is today. In 2010, the retail partnership between Alpha LSG and Thomas Cook began and since then we’ve seen some fantastic results.”
Hayes added that the strength of the partnership is based on the results that they have achieved together over the past five years: “We have achieved consistent growth in inflight sales. In 2010 we promised that we would invest to grow inflight sales and since then we have grown the inflight retail spend per head by +73%”.
Alpha LSG provides inflight services to 60,000 flights carrying 10 million passengers annually from Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, East Midlands, Stansted, Newcastle, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Doncaster, Luton, Leeds, Aberdeen, Belfast and Dublin.
An act from the gala dinner entertainment |
