Originally Posted by
strawberry Ribena
Just out of curiosity- at lhr, how can one handling agent look after just one class of an airline and not the entire product? What's the logic?
Thank you
LHR T2 is all set up in zones where various airlines are organised by handling agent. So all the Lufthansa group, plus EI, FI and 4U are together and handled fully by Menzies (apart from the OU ticket desk which is self handled) and are in Zone B.
In another Zone (A) they have SQ, TK, BR, TG, AC and CA all together who are all checked in by ASIG in a shared desk set up and various airlines have their own staff doing the ticketing or also use ASIG. I am not sure who does the ramp for these various airlines though or the exact specifics of who does what, but I know TK and CA self handle on the ticket desk.
VS:Little Red is wholly handled by Swissport above the wing and Dnata does the ramp stuff. They are in the same zone (C) as EI, FI (both Menzies) and SK Premium check in, which is handled by Swissport staff. These airlines all have their own dedicated check in desks as they aren't star alliance. However, 4U shares check in desks (but not a ticket desk) with the rest of the LH group even though they are also not star!
Another zone (D) has SK (economy, which ASIG handle on the same desks as TP, A3 and SA). Menzies do the ticketing for TP, but ASIG do everything else. OZ, NZ, NH, AV are all done by ASIG too, apart from NH and AV who have their own reps do ticketing.
UA (also in Zone D) is the only airline I am aware of that do wholly self handling with their own staff on check in, ticketing and under the wing and they also have their own dedicated check in desks, but recently closed their ticket desk.
As for your actual question, it's fairly simple in practice. An economy class passenger just joins the Y class line and they are handled by an ASIG agent. A business class passenger will join another line and they are check in by a Swissport agent. The baggage all gets sent down and is handled by swissport ramp. All the flights are boarded by Swissport agents. As for the benefits to the passengers, I'm not sure there is one, they don't really notice the difference or care I suppose, as long as they get on their way. The airline must get some financial benefit out of splitting it in such a way or else it wouldn't be done I suppose.
A similar set up used to be in place at EDI whereby all Loganair flights (under the FlyBE brand) were handled by Servisair while FlyBE mainline was done by Menzies. A common check in set up was in place whereby Menzies had 2/3 agents and Servisair had 1 on the check in desks and they would all check in anyone for any BE flight. The Loganair flights would be boarded by Servisair while MZ did the mainline ones.
