Air rage touches down at check-in

[Wirraway]

Tues "The Australian"

Air rage touches down at check-in
By Steve Creedy
October 21, 2003

AIRPORT check-in, gate and lounge staff are routinely experiencing incidents of abuse in what their union worries is a rising tide of airport rage.

While the focus has been on violence in the air, ground crew say they are being prodded, pushed, punched, spat at and verbally abused by angry customers.

Preliminary results of a survey of ground-based airport workers by the Australian Services Union shows 31 per experienced verbal or physical abuse at work on an almost daily basis.

Examples include a check-in agent being followed into a toilet by an angry passenger who tried to rip off her identification tag after failing to get a window seat. Another agent was followed to a bus stop and spat at.

"I have had a pax (passenger) throw a mobile phone at me, I've been threatened with physical violence and a punch in the face and had racial abuse (from) pax who assumed I was an Aboriginal," one Perth agent said.

The union says people who abuse, threaten or physically assault staff are rarely prosecuted under state laws, and some are even rewarded with airline upgrades.

It wants tough federal penalties similar to those available for air rage on aircraft to deal with the problem.

"The culture that has developed at airports is that conduct that normally in the public domain would be considered unacceptable, and would be prosecuted to the full force of the law, somehow becomes acceptable at an airport," ASU assistant national secretary Linda White said yesterday.

The union's analysis of 314 responses from 14 airports found 31 per cent of agents experienced some form of airport rage daily, 35 per cent witnessed it weekly and 27 per cent said it happened once a month. Seven out of 10 had witnessed passengers verbally threatening passengers or fellow staff, while two-thirds had experienced an out-of-control passenger who would not calm down.

More than 30 per cent had seen a passenger physically assault a fellow agent or passenger and 15 per cent said they had been physically touched or assaulted by a passenger.

The union blames the anger on a complex mix of issues, which include alcohol, high consumer expectations and air travel vagaries such as delays, overbookings and cancellations. It says frontline staff delivering the bad news get the backlash.

Ms White said the Australian responses were close to those from a similar survey in the US, where federal laws protecting airport workers were introduced after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The union also will tell a federal parliamentary committee investigating aviation security today that customer service staff strongly support the need to check passenger photo identification at the gate before boarding all flights.

The Australian

============================================

[Gnadenburg]

One of the lads from Check-In once told me this abuse was on the up.

Amusingly, it was also proportional to the number of bags that would end up in Tassie or Darwin. Instead of the enraged passenger's east coast destination.

If you are going to give Check In Staff a tirade of abuse, be advised to check the baggage tag before it hits the belt!:E

[bush mechanics]

On the other side of the issue,
Sure they copp alot of crap from some real scum but what about the normall pax who get there heads bitten off by SOME checkin staff.If you cant be nice to people(part of the job)maybe its time for a career change.
On a recent trip with QF I was seated just fwd of the rh wing and could see the bag snatchers at work,I wish Id had a camera.I didnt know some people could throw suitcases soo far.One bag actually broke open.Its even worse when you check in with a sub load staff ticket,Thats when you are made to feel real small.
SHAME,SHAME,SHAME.

[Rongotai]

A question for you professionals. I guess I have averaged 6-8 trips a month as a passenger over the last 15 years. I have NEVER had a ground staff member of any airline be rude to me, and I have never been rude to one, even though circumstances from time to time have been very tense. It just doesn't seem to be a productive use of energy to sound off at the front line staff. If I have a grievance I write to the airline afterwards - most of my problems seem to be the result of management practices rather than staff non performance.

What I do frequently get these days is an unasked for upgrade at the gate. Why is this? Just as you have ways of 'punishing' the discourteous, do you also have ways of rewarding the courteous? Or is it just my FF status that gets me these upgrades?

[Cypher]

I've always found it's the business type traveller that is real bad for 'airport' rage...

During my year behind the counter for XX, I've seen some pretty good pax and agents and some horrific pax and agents.. it's all part of the mix..

What comes to mind was one particular chappie who was really determined to get his 12 kg cabin bag on board with him... a nice 7 kg well over the limit. After trying to gently persuade him to repack and dodging the tirade of abuse, all one can do is call security, oh and reseat him in the rear row which doesn't recline and surround him with handicapped kids for a 3.5 hour flight to SYD...

Was kind of kinder than sending his bags to Timbuktu and just as satisfying.. :D

[bush mechanics]

Dr Phil,Thats fine mate but the bags I watched being chucked cleared the conveyor belt(A device used to carry bags from the a/c cargo hold to the waiting barow)

[GoGirl]

There's a logical explaination for all this;

you know those big sliding doors the pax go through when they enter the terminal?

well, for years now, us 'insiders' have been privvy to the fact that they are actually brain sucking devices............as soon as you walk through, your brain gets sucked right out the door :rolleyes:

[Three Bars]

GoGirl,

Good one! :O :O :O :O

I always thought that it was the boarding pass that reduced a normally sane, intelligent person into a rude, agressive imbecile!

Now I know the truth! :E

On a serious note - maybe its about time that instead of blowing smoke up the "guest's" a#$e, the same standards of conduct that are enforced for all other people in society should also be rigidly enforced in airport terminals. Enough of this nonsense!! What next? Battered Airport Terminal Staff syndrome?!?!

[Oktas8]

Violence in society in general is becoming more tolerated by management figures. (Perhaps tolerated is the wrong word - 'accepted as the norm' perhaps?)

My opinion is based on what happens at the high school my wife teaches at: there are more "stand downs" - or suspensions - now for violence than there used to be, and the numbers are slowly growing each year. It is not a simple problem, but whatever the solution is, there are an ever larger number of students out there who use intimidation (verbal, physical, whatever) to achieve gratification. Unfortunately, students become adults, and adults become ... colleagues and customers.

What's my point then? I hate having to have a point... :) Somehow, we had better come up with good ways to cope with this... Each to his own I suppose. But sending someone's bags to Timbuktu does make the pot just as black as the kettle if you get my drift.

Dr.Phil's got one good response though - I find chatting to them, makes them realise very quickly youre just a normal person...

O8

[GoGirl]

Oktas8, there is so much relevance to what you've said, more than you'll ever be given credit for.

It's a part of the problem, and a huge part of it IMHO.


Regards
GG

[OzExpat]

Err... I have learned, over the years, not to watch baggage being loaded or unloaded! :ouch:

A do a fair bit of travelling as SLF, one way and another. There are times when I'm frazzled by things that have happened before I've even reached the airport. However, when I get to check-in, I always try to put on a friendly, relaxed face and greet the person who is checking me in.

I can't say that I've ever had a bad response to this.

Yes, there have been times when things have gone sour with my hopes of a window seat o some such other minor luxury in cattle class. But, as has already been said, no purpose is served by getting bent out of shape over it. Of course, as a human response to some adversity, I can't help showing disappointment but I know it's not the fault of the person who's checking me in. He or she is simply the meat in the sandwich - the messenger.

I guess that why it's so convenient to try to shoot the messenger huh?

I certainly agree that check-in rage seems to be increasing. I've seen it quite a few times. I've sometimes been the next person that the check-in agent has had to deal with, after such an incident. I try to say something helpful in those circumstances as I'm sure that, because the agent is a fellow human being, he or she will still be somewhat affected by the previous SLF.

I soemtimes wonder why people can't just be civil to each other. After all, we ALL have to live on this planet - and some of us have to occupy the same aeroplane. It probably has to be said that I've never been knowingly seated next to anyone who's raged at the check-in staff.

But, then, I've only once received a seat upgrade at the gate...

[Northern Chique]

Ive had coffee thrown at me, been "humbugged" around the office until a number of frieght loader type people came to my rescue faster than annoying the police, yelled at and most other human failings were projected in my general direction.

I never retaliated, usually found a way for them to settle, another flight or another solution to suit them. More than once had sertious thoughts about setting checked on bags to some remote location with only one mail flight per month....

I made some pretty good friends by smiling, recognising faces and names and generally disarming agressors by one method or another. Theonly one who may still hate me is the guy who threatened to blow up the plane.... he made friends with the local police and a nice Judge in Sydney.

Never was a total looser rewarded for being a looser... people were rewarded for being civil and human.

[Buster Hyman]

You see, it all went wrong when we started calling them customers! I figure they were happier being called a number & treated like they were very lucky to be on my shiny new 727!

As soon as we were told to treat them as though they could think for themselves, then it all began to crumble. The old saying is; Give them an inch & they take a mile! Well, we gave them a window & they wanted an upgrade! (Often asked for, before a "Good Morning" response!)

The solution is to place posters of the MV Cormo Express at every counter. On it will be an arrow pointing at the sheep that says: YOU, and another arrow pointing to the dock saying: ME.

PS. Go Girl. Say hi to ya Mum for me!:ok:

[Ovation]

Not defending the few passengers who are idiots, but by and large the expectation is far short of the reality. The airlines are happy to show travel as a sophisticated and enjoyable experience, but what they deliver is marginally better than the MV Como to the Middle East.

The advertising is always of first or business class sophisticates being pampered by atttractive cabin attendants delivering silver service a la carte with vintage wines, and after the meal it's off to la la land in the flat bed seat.

So after the long delay at check-in, the intrusive and sometimes bemusing searches of baggage when they nick your nail trimmers and humiliate you in public, then add in the late arrival of the connecting flight, a little apprehension due to fear of flying etc, and where is all the pent up frustration going? Yep, the first person they see in an airline uniform (even the wrong airline!).

I reckon there are a lot of passengers who exercise a remarkable degree of self control, and it's the airlines that need to take their head out of their ar*e if they want to really tackle this problem.