Like Internal Revenue Service agents and Department of Motor vehicle employees, everyone loves to hate airline gate agents. That now includes their bosses.
Consider that corporate bean counters have reduced airport employee headcount so that what used to take three people now must be done by, in many cases, one. Wages are down, too.
But I’ll bet the bigwigs couldn’t do that job if you held a gun to their heads. Nor would they want to, for what they’re paying them.
We’ve all heard about the angry mobs caused by delayed, canceled or oversold flights — decisions often made by Mother Nature or by some pencil-pusher thousands of miles away.
Yes, something called the Severe Weather Avoidance Program allows those airline Operations Control Center pencil-pushers to collaborate between airlines and with the Federal Aviation Administration to pick which flights to trim from airspace during severe weather, so Mother Nature isn’t always the only culprit when your flight gets canceled or delayed due to that thunderstorm over New York.
Those scenarios aside, even on a clear weather, smooth sailing sort of day, gate agents have a lot to do while maintaining their composure, helping you, collecting tickets, making announcements and getting the flight out on-time.
Not all of them click their ruby heels and do cartwheels. That’s a fact. But here’s a partial list, collected from my observations over the two decades I spent in the airline industry. These tasks have to be simultaneously accomplished in about 30 minutes or less:
1. Receive the inbound aircraft, park the jet bridge without damaging the aircraft, deplane the customers, help those in wheelchairs, hand-off unaccompanied minors and provide connecting gate information.
2. Answer a million questions, a lot of them repeatedly, ranging from the location of the airport bathroom to the weather conditions in Louisville. How many times do you think US Airways agents will be asked “Do I have to pay for a soda” today, even though its new $2-for-a-Coke policy doesn’t go into effect until August 1?
3. Provide the crew with the latest weather information for the departing airspace, route of flight, fuel onboard, any hazardous materials or human remains being shipped in cargo, and various other things the pilots need to know to operate the flight safely.
4. Provide the flight attendants with a manifest of the customers onboard so they can identify elite and first class customers by name or tell who ordered the special meals (in the unlikely event food is served).
5. Verify that catering has visited the airplane and that supplies are loaded in accordance with the scheduled service planned for the flight.
6. Take care of all the unaccompanied minors and wheelchair customers, sometimes taking them to the bathroom or to buy a snack or magazine (even though the law governing the rights of disabled customers currently says the agent doesn’t have to). Make sure these customers are pre-boarded, assisted into their seat, carry-on baggage is stowed and the necessary sign-offs are obtained from the flight attendants.
7. Scan the gate area for oversized carry-on luggage so it can be checked prior to departure to prevent last-minute delays. Hand write gate-check baggage tags for any strollers or car seats and position them at the end of the jet bridge so ramp agents can load them in the cargo bin.
8. Manage the standby list and clear passengers desiring seats on the flight so that they can get onboard and get settled before an on-time gate pushback.
9. Reconcile the count of customers with the number of tickets collected and provide that information to the crew and flight dispatch so that they can correctly calculate the weight and balance of the aircraft for a safe takeoff.
10. Close the aircraft door and safely remove the jet bridge without damaging the aircraft.
The next time you witness an airline gate agent feverishly pecking away at his or her computer terminal, I hope you’ll remember this list and cut them a little slack.
