Ep43: Grace Under Pressure: Designing Passenger Experience Through Disruption

What if the moments passengers remember most, are the ones when everything goes wrong?

In this episode of CXD, Oliver King sits down with Engine’s Design Director David Pinder to talk about designing for disruption in airports.

They explore how pressure points—from flight delays to major incidents—can become defining moments for passenger experience. It’s a conversation about clear communication, empowered teams, and designing services that stay calm, considered and human—especially when the unexpected hits.

Because the airports that plan for disruption? They’re the ones passengers come back to.

Connect with David Pinder.

Chapters

00:10 - Introduction
01:32 - Crisis Moments as Experience Opportunities
05:07 - Empowering Staff for Better Passenger Care
09:50 - Human-Centred Welfare During Disruption
12:20 - Balancing Infrastructure Development and Passenger Experience
17:20 - Preparing for the Unexpected
23:30 - Effective Communication During Disruption
28:39 - Final Thoughts on Designing for Disruption

More Episodes

featured-image

Ep49: Designing places: Where architecture meets experience

featured-image

Ep48: Build It Like You Mean It: Turning Vision into Action in a Legacy Infrastructure World

featured-image

Ep47: What retail can learn from the five-star lobby (pt.2)

featured-image

Ep46: What retail can learn from the five-star lobby

featured-image

Ep45: Why the hardest part of leadership has nothing to do with strategy

featured-image

Ep44: Prove it or Lose it: The CX Case for Investment

featured-image

Ep43: Grace Under Pressure: Designing Passenger Experience Through Disruption

featured-image

Ep42: Reimagining Shopping, Space and Experiences in Transit

featured-image

Ep41: No More Queues, No More Excuses: The AI Revolution in CX

Subscribe

Don’t miss an episode of the CXD Podcast.

Sign up now for your fortnightly dose of reimagination.

Other Perspectives

Designing customer experience in 2026 and beyond

Close the gap between design and delivery: 5 tips for success

10 design principles to build a strong foundation for trust

Trust could be costing you millions

4 ways to transform CX through cross-functional leadership

Children at aquarium

Turning visits into relationships: designing destinations that last

Louvre customer experience

Why too much choice hurts your destination

Making big ideas stick: How Engine unites vision and execution

Host don't operate

Host, don’t operate: the human side of designing destinations

Winning over hearts and minds: the secret to creating a lasting design and change culture

Destinations that people feel

Designing destinations that people feel

Why siloed CX strategies fail