It's certainly easier to move through the punters unmolested.
Example: When I was flying for an airline in the Pacific, we used to go to/from Los Angeles. When it was time to leave LA we had to stand around at the QF counter for about ten minutes waiting for the cabin crew to show up. Invariably we'd get several punters come up and ask us where such-and-such airline counter was. That got old really quickly so I just used to say, "oh they're about two hundred yards that way" and point down the far end of the terminal. The other crew would ask me how I knew that.
"How would I know?"