Twas one of the reasons why after 4 years working as check in staff and dispatch I decided that enough was enough. Thing is, the less the airline pays the less the handling agent can provide. I can remember a certain Welsh airline paying for one passenger services agent but wanted three when it came to boarding. Handling agent provided what that airline paid for and they picked up quite a few delays because of it.
This leads me onto delay codes. Unfortunately there is not a delay code for " Airline refuses to pay for a proper service " so most delays go down to handling delays. This is where management start to get their knickers in a twist. I got fed up of having to explain that a lack of staff caused the delay. But because that was a handling delay I had to find some other reason. Mind you it would have helped if the guys sending the departure message helped out a bit. When I started dispatching there was an unwritten rule that said " 10 minute delays do not exist ". That all changed when I moved to a single handling agent airport.
The handling agent at this airport covered everything. Though Bacon airlines covered their own flights and one or two others. Now we were all working under the same company name as a team. That was until we picked up a delay of two minutes. They guys sending the departure messages wanted a delay code for a delay of two minutes but their watches/clocks were never wrong were they? So I'd just pick a number to keep them quiet. But I'd get told that we can't use that delay code because it either "does not exist (?)" or was a handling delay so we couldn't use it. Even though that was the cause of the delay I still couldn't use it. So I'd tell them to pick a number (a bit like delay code bingo really) only for it to cause a big argument between the ramp, passenger services and the airport authority. All arguing that the cause of the delay was down to the next person.
There is a quote in a certain American carrier’s operation manual that said:-
" Delay codes are not used to allocate blame. They are used by management to identify potential problem areas ".
So why do we get the blame and a bolloking for a delay? Instead of finding a solution to the problem management prefer to take the power trip option and bollok anyone who may be in the wrong place at the wrong time which does nothing for staff moral. This was a big factor in me making the decision to leave the airline business. No one needs the stress or the pressure put upon you.
I'm now working for my local ambulance service driving a doctor around where there is just the two of us in the car and no pressure from management. I get nearly double the pay I used to get, a full time permanent contract, decent working hours, a decent amount of holidays (8 weeks per year) and more respect from management and members of the public. I think I made the right choice and would never return to working for a handling agent unless things changed 100%.