On Friday, August 22, the Envoy team at William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) proudly celebrated their American Airlines Customer Cup win for the second quarter of 2025 (2Q25) alongside Envoy leaders, representatives from the American Airlines Federal Credit Union (AACU), and the HOU Airport team. The celebration featured a catered lunch, a delicious cake, goodie bags, recognition points, and a team outing the following day.
The Coveted Cup
The Customer Cup is a quarterly award program hosted by American Airlines, where stations across American’s network are grouped into categories by similar size and operational scope, compete in a variety of performance metrics categories. These categories include, but are not limited to:
- Domestic/International Operations
- Performance Metrics
- Turn Dependability (T0)
- Departure Dependability (D0)
- Airport Experience
- Baggage Performance (MBR)
- Customer Feedback
“The Envoy team at HOU earned their first-ever Customer Cup win, which means you competed against 47 other stations of similar size in Category 6. That’s very impressive,” said John Jaynes, Envoy Senior Vice President of Customer Services, who attended the celebration. “But none of this could be done without the support of our partners — like our Ground Support Equipment (GSE) team, the HOU Airport team, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) — just to name a few. We’d like to thank them and our HOU team as well.”
Stations that demonstrate the strongest overall performance are awarded the Cup and earn the right to proudly showcase their achievement. For HOU, this win marks what is hopefully the first of many.
Kevin Ward, Envoy Vice President of Airport Services Planning, also joined the celebration and said, “I want to thank everyone at HOU for their contributions. The Customer Cup is a very competitive program, and because of the team’s dedication to safety, reliability, and customer service, we’re here today celebrating. But sometimes when you win an award, you think of it as the end. Let’s think of this as the beginning of a new standard and a cause for momentum moving forward.”
A Bittersweet Bash
While the team gathered to celebrate their Customer Cup win, they also took a moment to express their gratitude and bid farewell to two valued leaders — Rachel Alaniz-Carmichael, former Regional Managing Director (RMD) for the Southwest Region, and Diego Nuñez Noguera, former General Manager (GM) at HOU, as they transition into new roles.
After 16 years of dedicated service with Envoy, Rachel is retiring from Envoy Air, but not from aviation. She’ll be returning to her roots at American, where she began her career, as the General Manager of St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) in St. Louis, MO. “Like Kevin said, it’s time to continue the momentum and strive to win the Cup back-to-back. And while I may no longer be here physically in HOU, I’m always just a phone call away,” said Rachel.
Diego also bid farewell to the HOU team as he transitions into his new role as GM for Envoy at John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) in Columbus, OH. “I want to add on to what everyone has said, I’ve seen the team come a long way. HOU has always been a great station, and I’m very proud of everyone’s hard work. I plan to return to visit when they win their second Customer Cup,” said Diego.
Way to go, team HOU, and best of luck on the next stop in your career, Rachel and Diego!