Heathrow has recruited former undercover police officer Danni Brooke to hunt out and de-stress frazzled travellers.
The airport has enlisted ex-undercover police officer and star of Channel 4’s Hunted Danni Brooke to train colleagues on how to spot the body language typical of an ‘Airport Dad’. Heathrow’s Here to Help team – now known as the Airport Dad Deactivation team – will de-stress travellers with vouchers for free food, drinks, de-stress facials at branches of Kiehl’s, and premium lounge access.
According to new research commissioned by Heathrow, UK travellers believe keeping hold of the family’s passports (35%), constantly checking the time (34%), and taking charge of getting everyone to the airport (33%) are the top traits of the Airport Dad, a label which went viral after the trend for filming frazzled fathers took over TikTok.
Danni Brooke has used her expertise in covert work to draft an internal memo circulated amongst Heathrow’s volunteer Here to Help team, training them to spot the key signs of an Airport Dad before holiday tension ensues. The memo has also informed new signage posted throughout Heathrow’s terminals, warning the public to be on high alert for potential Airport Dads.
Brooke said of her Heathrow assignment: “I’ve spent my career building the skills it takes to analyse a person through their body language, and act on the situation before it escalates. Now, the Heathrow team have all the skills they need to spot these Airport Dads before they share their stress with their whole party, ensuring their holidays start from the moment they step into the airport.”
The data showed that the majority of Airport Dads can start feeling stressed up to and over a week before their trip, so it is hoped the new initiative will help to calm down travellers before it comes to jetting off.
Becky Denness, head of customer engagement at Heathrow, explained: “At Heathrow, our priority is making the travel experience as seamless and enjoyable as possible. Our research showed the majority of ‘Airport Dads’ would feel more relaxed if they could enjoy their favourite meal or drink or take a valuable moment to rest, so we hope we can help some of these passengers to relax and enjoy the airport journey, and show them there’s really nothing to stress about!”
The initiative will be in place across the summer holiday period, ending on August 31.
Image: London Heathrow Airport
