Bill Brand, ramp service crew chief at LAX, was presented with the inaugural oneworld Ambassador of the Year award during ceremonies in Dallas recently.

Brand received the award in part for his efforts in coordinating AA's handling of 28 Qantas 747 charter flights carrying more than 2,000 passengers between LAX and SYD for the 2000 Olympic Games. Almost an entire year of planning went into the processes of connecting passengers and baggage between American Airlines and Qantas in LAX.

"It gives me chills. I've never won anything like this before," said Brand. "I'm just a typical working stiff, really enjoying what I'm doing, and I picked up the ball and ran with it. Lots of other people in the ambassador program would have handled this just as well if the opportunity had fallen to them."

For his efforts, Brand received commendations from executive vice presidents at both Qantas and at NBC, which chartered the flights. One example of the extraordinary service was the fact that of the 1,235 pieces of baggage on the flights, only two items misconnected on the outbound flights, and both were found and delivered on the next flight out. The service on the Olympic charters has led NBC to approach American about doing more of its charters overall.

According to Brand, "The award is wonderful, but it's a very small part of what's been going on over the past year. We were like deer in the headlights when Paula [Walters, manager for oneworld training] first got us together, but there were no obstacles by the time we were working with NBC and Qantas."

The oneworld Ambassador Group is a highly motivated group of AA Customer Service and Ramp employees who work with fellow AAers and employees from other oneworld carriers to address issues impacting the delivery of oneworld customer benefits to customers and employees in the alliance.

Others receiving recognition at the ceremony were premium services reps Katherine Percy (YYZ) and Kimberly Kuchipudi (ORD), who both received the "Ambassador Spirit" award; and ramp ambassador Craig Higgins (MIA), who received the "Automation Initiative" award for his idea to automate adding scheduled departure time to bag tags.

Brand's Ambassador of the Year designation wasn't the first reward offered to him after his efforts with NBC and Qantas; towards the end of the charter movement, the television network offered to send him to Sydney to see the Games. But, concluded Brand, "I thought working with NBC, with the ambassadors, with AA and Qantas, that was a once in lifetime opportunity right there."