GREENSBORO, N.C. — The holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year inside airports. One program in North Carolina is helping people navigate through the airport to get to their flights on time.

Randy Jackson is an "airport ambassador" at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro. Jackson has been volunteering as an ambassador for the last three years.

What You Need To Know

  • Airport ambassadors are volunteers

  • Ambassadors volunteer three hours a week

  • Ambassadors help people get through the airport on time

“Always had a big interest in aviation, love this airport, flew in and out of this airport countless times. It’s a neat way to give back a little bit,” said Jackson.

He’s a former meteorologist and he now teaches weather for the insurance industry. Despite teaching, he still finds time to volunteer three hours a week.

“So, in fact, I taught a class this morning. And I always come out here on a Thursday afternoon and the shift I have out here is really busy. I normally have five, six flights in about three and a half hours,” said Jackson.

As an ambassador, through the Airport Ambassadors program, he meets all kinds of people and helps them find where they need to go in the airport. Jackson says he typically helps about 40 to 50 people a shift, but says when it’s really busy he has helped more than 100 people.

“Because you have people coming to pick people up, you have people coming in that are departing and trying to get upstairs. They're not sure where they’re going, it just makes it a really interesting shift,” said Jackson.

Jackson says the holidays in general are pretty busy, with Thanksgiving being the precursor for the season. Gates are often full of people and planes are going out and coming in. 

“The planes coming are often people who are visiting family, don’t know the airport and don’t know the area and asking about rental cars and restaurants and really made it a lot of fun and then to hand them a cookie. It made it, just wow this is incredible,” said Jackson.

Airport ambassadors are placed at desks around the entrance of the airport.

The Raleigh-Durham International Airport says they have brought back their Airport Ambassadors program.