check in staff

[lee19]

hi everybody, i am currently a student studying travel and tourism..i am finding it very hard to find information on the roles and responsibilities of the following:

check-in staff
security
retail staff in an airport
ticketing staffany information for these would be very much appricated. asap would be great as i need the information before thursday 8/6/06

thank you very much
leanne mc kenna

[aw8565]

Nothing like leaving it till the last minute...!

As an ex check-in agent for well known unpopular ground handling company I hope I can help a little in this respect. Essentially you'll start you're shift on a checkin desk. It varies between airlines but you'll have a computer through which you check-in passengers. It's like filling in a register I guess. You can bring up a seat map of the aircraft on the screen and you assign the seats from there, trying to keep everone happy, keeping families and couples sat with each other and window seats etc.

You need to make sure they have their correct tickets, although many scheduled carriers are using electronic ticketing, which, as long as you IDENTIFY the passenger correctly(!) can save a lot of paperwork. The agent must ensure that passports are in order, that Visa requirements are satisfied etc. Information on this can be brought up in some computers or in the 'TIM', a big book that says who can and can't go where with which visas... makes a gripping read... However, if you did send someone somewhere and they were denied access due to a problem you should have picked up, the company will be fined. And you'll know about it...

Baggage must be weighed and ticketed then sent down the belt. Excess baggage will need to be paid for via the ticket desk. Some airlines allocate a share of the charges taken to either the whole checkin team, or those that have charged for excess individually. I never had this opportunity with 'my airline' so nobody that I checked in ever got charged excess! Unless I felt they deserved it.... and some do! If the passenger is not happy about paying £4.00 a kilo for their 3rd suitcase (and I've yet to find one that is) it'll be up to you to diffuse the situation, maybe coming to a compromise by rounding down from say 24 to 20 kilos? There's always the old, 'ok well you don't pay, you don't fly...' you have them by the bollards...and money will suddenly appear from the person who previously couldn't afford blah blah blah....

Some rows cannot have infants sat in them due to lack of oxygen facility, so this must be prepared for by 'setting up' the flight in the computer before checkin opens. Seats can be 'blocked' for wheelchair passengers etc. This will normally be done by a checkin supervisor or equivalent, but an agent might do well to learn this sort of thing if they wish to progress in the company!

Obviously there are the mandatory security questions you are required to ask;
'Has anyone asked you to carry anything onto the flight for them?'
'Could your bags have been interfered with since you packed them?'
'Do you have any sharp or pointed items about your person or in your hand luggage?' Words to that effect, I forget it's been so long! Any 'jokey' responses to these questions normally result in the checkin agent calling the police...

Check-in agents also board the flights from the gate. You'll start the (often long) walk to a deserted gate room a suitable amount of time before the flight and ensure that the screens that show to the passengers are changed at the right time, say 1 hour before departure. Activity here ranges from setting up the boarding process to seeing who can slide furthest on their chairs... One gate I used a lot had a hot drink machine in, and the engineer told someone a code to get drinks out of it for free! It genuinely worked too! Hot chocolate to order!

The agent will liase with the despatcher as to when the crew on the aircraft are ready to accept passengers, then you'll do your announcement (which is AWFUL the first few times) and board the aircraft normally from the rear first. You'll need to arrange for calls to be put out for late passengers and then make sure that everyone is indeed on board, that someone hasn't slipped past you to go to the toilet. Then it's back up to check-in, maybe via the canteen.

We have a ticket desk but I work for a Ground Handling Agent (Servisair) so our ticket desk is responsible for several airlines mainly scheduled airlines. The airlines themselves use different computer systems for check-in and reservations etc. A ticket agent will need to learn all these systems which is no mean feat! Rebooking onto another flight if there is disruption due to weather or technical problems, possibly booking hotel accomodation for passengers or distributing refreshment vouchers can all be done by the ticket desk. This is different from somone working in a call centre handling reservations, our Ticket Desk is on the airport floor, Zone F of Gatwick South if you were passing anytime. This is where passengers will come to pay that excess we were talking about, and ticket desk staff often have to deal with difficult passengers. There is a large amount of responsibility as far as money handling is concerned. I've seen some large sums at the end of a busy day!

I know nothing about retail staff in the airport. If they are 'landside,' I'm sure it's the same as working in the high street. If you're 'airside,' you'll have to go through security but again I guess it's fairly similar. Possibly handling different currencies I don't know? All (good) airport staff have a sixth sense for security though and this would set someone apart from the high street. Unattended bags, shifty looking people tend to become slightly higher priorities especially where flights are concerned. I've had a phone call on checkin from a girl that worked for a completely different company advising me of a possible drunk passenger that was on his way over to me to checkin. He had to ask her directions, then fell over in front of her. He didn't fly that night.

Again, I know little of security as a job role. Not sure if it's as exciting as it sounds. There are lots of security posts that require constant supervision day and night, and they are often on their own. They obviously have the responsibilites of all the passengers that are travelling day to day and I'm sure the resposibility is not easy. It would probably be best to contact the BAA direct about it. Most airport workers are a pretty helpful bunch.

I've rattled on quite a bit but hopefully the above is helpful....
PM me if you want me to expand on anything...
All the best
Andy

[757King]

Well aw8565 has rounded it up there and pretty much included everything, although i have had a few passengers who have had no problem paying excess as they are fully aware they are over their limit (usually by taking an extra case if they live out there)

[TinyTom]

Penauille Servisair are currently recruiting at various stations (see servisair.com for details) Note that the summer season has begun and that mainly 'charter traffic' airports will have recruited by now. Another company you may want to try would be Aviance?

Good luck
TinyTom x

[aw8565]

Jeez you write all this and not even a 'cheers for that...' :hmm:

[The SSK]

Long Term Car Park Attendants
There will be an illiterate man sitting in a booth at the entrance, some three miles away from where your car is parked. His job is primarily as ballast to prevent the booth being swept away by the strong winds found only in large airport carparks. He does not actually realise he works at an airport car park. He is not happy with the cable TV in his booth which shows only the 'Parked Automobile' channel and only in black and white at that. He knows nothing about the local road network. If you persist in asking directions, he will be forced to phone his supervisor in Cincinatti for help.

Long Term Car Park Busdriver
Sadly this is the only happy person you will meet on your entire journey, other than the Hare Krishnas. He will call you "Bud" or "Jack", and will have a long drawn out chuckle. You always feel that he knows something you do not: "How long will it take to get to the United terminal, sir?" Response - "Ho ho ho ho ho" - long pause - "not long, bud." - pause - "Ho ho ho ho"

Car Rental Return Staff
Always headhunted from McDonalds, and renowned for their ability to deal only with objects arranged in straight lines. They will use a portable machine to print out your receipt, which is designed to fade to illegibility within eight hours. Like car park attendants, these people are unaware that they work at or near an airport, they just know they can walk to work from home.

Car Rental Bus Driver
These middle managers of the car rental business are paid to watch you climb a step ladder up to the floor level of the bus with your three suitcases, then watch you struggle to lift your bags into a steel cage a further three feet higher. If possible they will depart mid way through your mountaineering exercise, leaving at least one of your bags on the sidewalk. They are chosen for their ability to swing the bus round corners at high speed so propelling your bags into the laps of 'grandparents' sitting opposite. This is not a problem (see FAQ on Passengers).

At the terminal, he will park hard up against a stretch limo. They also manage to stop the bus by the door for the least used airline at the terminal (Icelandair, Ghana Airways, etc) leaving you a ten minute struggle through the crowds to United, Delta, BA, etc.

Skycaps
Recognisable by their gaudy outfits (but not to be confused with fellow passengers on their way to Las Vegas), these are extremely elderly gentlemen who were considered medically unfit to be car park attendants. They have a further medical condition requiring them to always wear their smart cap pushed well back on their head. (Do not confuse them with First Officers) This enables them to scratch their head when you say "Delta" or "Continental". Although they must do this walk at least four times a day, it still appears to be confusing. These people are generally miserable with whatever you tip them, even if you accidentally give them twelve thousand dollars.

Check In Staff
Rejected as being troublemakers by Lucifer, check in staff are employed to offer you all the customer features invented by the marketing department. "The Wait" (TM) is a service feature enabling you to meet other fellow passengers for an hour. "The Extended Wait" is *only* available during school holidays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. For some reasons, airlines do not have this feature at competitors major hubs.

Check in staff come in several varieties, and by a feat of genetic engineering, these varieties are usually available within one body. "The Smiler": staff who greet you with an impossibly large smile. "The Smiler" vanishes when you show her your ticket, to be replaced by "The Concerned".

"The Concerned" is patiently able to explain that the code (e.g. BK27GHQKK56) in 3 point italic in the middle of your ticket means that you should have confirmed your reservation with their Des Moines (Monday to Saturday) or Paris (weekends only, until 1pm, thereafter with the Hamburg office) reservation office. Because you didn't do this, your reservation has been cancelled. He will listen politely while you explain that this was not made clear to you. He will then thumb through a book of regulations the size of The Bible and will triumphantly point to the detail.

"The Shocked" suddenly appears when you assert your rights. "The Shocked" will start to argue with you, but will remain polite. "The Travel Agent Router" follows shortly afterwards, to start blaming your travel agent for the confusion.
You are passed on to the Check In Supervisor, typically a perspiring middle-aged person, whose prime function is to assess the damage you can cause to the airline, and make decisions accordingly. If you are eventually considered acceptable for transportation, "The Smiler" returns as if nothing had happened. They will ask if you packed your own bags. In the heady, sexy world of airline staff, they hire people to pack their suitcases for them, so expect everyone else does.

You will be asked to take only one piece of carry on luggage, so you are almost forced into placing some valuables into your hold luggage. "The Concerned" reappears momentarily to place a 'Fragile' (read: expensive goods inside this bag) sticker on the relevant suitcase.

[The SSK]

Security Staff at X-Ray Machines
These are the prime infantry in the fight against international terrorism, and act accordingly. From the moment you start to queue for the security check, all state, federal, and national law, and all fundamental human rights cease to exist until you leave the airport at the other end of the trip (or later if you are going to Singapore). You are now in a jurisdiction called "Airlinia". The laws in Airlinia are largely made up on the spot to amuse staff, by creating fictitious security or safety risks. To be allowed entry to Airlinia, you need to be fully scanned and searched for electronic goods, defective laptop PCs, anything metallic, and neatly packed suitcases.
Police Officers
Police officers wander around airports looking for somewhere to eat donuts and drink coffee, as these are high risk crime areas.
Hare Krishnas
To entertain travellers, airports regularly provide a Hare Krishna band. These people are carefully selected by Airport Entertainments Inc for their ability to discuss things like karma, sublime
consciousness and chicken biryani for hours at a time. Upon retirement, Hare Krishna employees frequently get elected to government or get senior jobs with advertising agencies. A few become pilots of regional jets.
Undercover Police Officers
See Hare Krishnas.
Undercover DEA, FBI Agents
Wear black jackets with DEA or FBI in 16" high fluorescent letters on the back.
Duty Free Shop Staff
"Dutigh Freaigh" is the old Celtic phrase for extortion. Two categories of staff here. "The Hapless" covers most of them. Can be recognised easily because they are paid next to nothing to stand around squirting perfume at people. They also sneeze frequently.
"The Innumerate" who work on the till. Every time an Amex card is proffered, they look at it in astonishment.
Most Duty Free staff harbour a grudge against the government because they failed the final NASA selection panel for the Space Shuttle program.
Gate Staff
Gate staff are phenomenally important because they work *close to aircraft*. They are in the top 0.05% of the world's intellectual elite, although they choose never to use their portfolio of foreign language abilities, powers of logic, numerical capability, or compassion. Most US presidents, UN secretary generals, NATO commanders and astronauts started off as gate staff.
Gate staff make announcements like: "Uniyyyydsssscc annnounssss fliy seebrnbnnnbb-two-ssshhhhh wwwwwwagshhhshDC shhsue sshue hisssssss shhhh hissss should not board now". This is not a tannoy problem, they really do talk like this, even at home.
Gate staff are able to spot people breaking the laws of Airlinia from a distance. There are many laws in Gateopia county: for example, using a Walkman while reading a newspaper, not understanding the tannoy, being a first time flyer, being a foreigner, not being a foreigner, walking while chewing gum, asking questions about the flight, mentioning Kapton. Some laws are valid only at certain times: having children, not having children, being a Coach passenger, etc.
Gate staff always work in a small group, except at Thanksgiving (or Bank Holiday Weekends in Britain). The proper collective name is 'a confusion of gate staff'.
Gate staff are the sworn enemies of flight attendants. Gate staff generally failed the selection test for Duty Free Shop staff *and* Flight Attendants. At the panel, they were incapable of pointing two hands at doors and could only serve food by standing behind a counter and throwing the trays at people.
Flight Attendants
Recognised by their generally supercilious behaviour, especially towards gate staff. If a ramp agent comes on board, there is usually a fight. "We counted 216!" "Well *we* counted 217, you bitch!" "Can't you half-wits count anything" "We'll have to count all the bastards again then" "Bitch" "Cow" (all the time they are smiling at each other and passengers).
FAs can be either male or female or somewhere in between, and passengers need to exercise care when addressing them. Statistically, to be on the safe side, call them all "Miss".
FAs are gate staff with attitude, and it is the only profession where when presented with a paper bag of unwanted bodily fluid, they will smile and say "Thank You". Between flights some FAs are known to accept unwanted bodily fluids in plastic bags from other crew members. On older aircraft the safety announcement is performed live. It is a choreographed dance involving pointing, life jackets, and more
pointing. FAs spend 20 minutes learning this in training, followed by 6 months learning how to programme the inflight VCR so that the last 5 minutes of each film is missed.
FAs come in several categories:
"The Newbie" who is genuinely helpful, kind and friendly but only manages to serve the first three rows by the time you are approaching Osaka from Chicago.
"The Standard" is withering, efficient, chosen either for having perky breasts or a great butt. These features are both available in the male or female versions.
"The Mom" now in vogue for their ability to treat you like dirt, but you accept it because she's *just* like Margaret who lived opposite you when you were a teenager.
"The Wicked Wascal" the cheery, light hearted male FA who always winks at you, licks his lips a lot, and giggles frequently.
"The Purser" who is there to single handedly deter potential hijackers. Pursers are frequently used to guard the plane at remote overnight stops.
Pilots
As always, several versions.
Pilots are a law unto themselves. Period. They are virile, handsome, have deep voices, are totally masculine, have a dry sense of humour, and can rattle off a sentence with three hundred words flawlessly, even without the benefit of any verbs. Pilots stand at urinals and compare the size of their planes with each other.
First pilot: "I'm on the 747-200 now. And you?"
Seond pilot <gulp, instantly depressed> "Still driving the 727 outta Houston....Ziiiiiip.....Yours a -200 or a 200F?"
First pilot <caught out>: "Yep, the 200F. Important freight though" Second pilot <smiling now>: "Surprised you're up during daylight hours then"
See? A draw, more or less.
There are two main categories of pilots, Captains and First Officers. Captains are God's gift to women, *especially* when they fly an aircraft that requires their input at any time during their shift, say an older 737, anything by McDonnell Douglas or Tupolev.
Captains are always right, especially when on finals when windshear has been reported and other aircraft are diverting elsewhere.
As, for some strange reason, most captains are short, they wear grubby little caps with some gold lame and bits of theatrical braid. The caps may never be taken off, and they wear them to bed, in the pool, and when skiing.
Captains make all the decisions on flights. As most current airliners are easier to operate than most ATMs, there are few decisions to make. Their main job now is to negotiate a departure time from Air Traffic Control. Under FAA rules, earliest departure times go to pilots with the deepest, most distinguished voice.
First Officers are trainee captains, they are still doing Arrogance 101 and Choice of Dessert courses at night, but in the meantime they do most of the work considered unbecoming for a captain.
The First Officer walks around the aircraft to check that there are no scratches, and that the plane still has at least 30% of engines attached. A curious ritual is that if the wing is low down, he will always want to jump up and touch it. Presumably this is to check it is still correctly attached. The First Officer's cap is always too big for his head: he is thinking ahead to when he will become captain and his head will fill out nicely. It is customary for the First Officer to do landings only when there is a chance of something going wrong, and on all charter flights. You can recognise a 'First Officer Landing' by the fact that he starts to flare over the outer marker yet still manages to land long with a tremendous bang. If it is known before that the First Officer is to be flying a sector, maintenance may be asked to fit several of the engines backwards to assist braking.
There is little love lost between captains and first officers. If you are sitting near the cockpit, you will know that the first officer is landing the plane because you can hear the Captain humiliating him seconds before touchdown, saying "Retard! Retard!"
There are some airport staff you will not see or meet, but who are essential to your flight.
Line Maintenance Engineer
He makes minor repairs to the aircraft. For instance, if the Captain's vanity mirror is broken, the Line Maintenance Engineer is called. Typically his office is some distance from the aircraft, sometimes even in a different state. He will travel to the aircraft as soon as he is paged, using the subway or express bus. He will arrive, check the pilots assessment of the problem, say "Vanity mirror's broken, bud" and return to his office to get a new one.
Air Traffic Controller
These are calm, collected individuals who behave rationally and logically, but with no sense of humour. Their calmness counterbalances the rest of the transportation system.
They communicate to the pilots using codewords. The communication is always concise, clipped, professional, e.g.
ATC: "Continental 216, say altitude"
Continental 216: "Ah....A-L-T-I-T-U-D-E"
ATC: "Continental 216, say V-I-O-L-A-T-I-O-N"
See? Concise and professional.

[ash666]

A great read, SSK

[FOXPRESIDENT]

SSK - Fantastic! Absolutly fantastic!" Thanks for cheering me up! :D :p :D

[Maude Charlee]

SSK,

Agreed. Most amusing. :) :)

[SkySista]

We counted 216!" "Well *we* counted 217, you bitch!" "Can't you half-wits count anything" "We'll have to count all the bastards again then" "Bitch" "Cow" (all the time they are smiling at each other and passengers).


PMSL!!!!! Fabulous!!!! :ok: :} :E

[The SSK]

I'll see if I can dig out the 'Passenger FAQ' later, it's nearly as good