Perception of ground crew performance in UK versus continental Europe
 

I am not a commercial pilot (simple PPL/MEP) but I hear from friends who are that there is a huge difference in work attitude between ground crew on UK airports versus the near continent.

The allegation is that UK ground crew are (obviously as a generalization) slower, less friendly, less work happy than those on the continent.

Would any pilot care to comment?

groundcrew work rate
 

When easyJet first set up, they planned on a 25 min turn round in the UK, 35 mins in France and 45 mins in Spain.

Want to hazard a guess as to why?

In both my previous and present job, i've never really experienced an attitude like you mention...my home base is great; (Swissport LGW) friendly, professional people...generally can't do enough for you.

A few weeks ago I operated a very delayed flight and the dispatcher was just fantastic...under a lot of pressure with the circumstances but his work ethic was awesome...and we all kept smiling!

well, to be honest can u blame any guys if they are grumpy? especially with the turn-around times... lack of staff and no recruitment...

generally were i work everyone is alrite, altho sometimes sum1 has a bad day lol..

I fly quite often to London Luton and I must say, that there is few ground crew guys with an attitude (not a great one), which I have not found at other airports. But may be, I am just unlucky. I was told, that these guys are going to be replaced, so they performance must have been noticed by the airport as well. Generally I find the UK airports less organized and they also seem to have pretty bad equipment. The stairs sway from side to side, when passengers are on it, there are no guidance into stands, less communication.
Plus in the air, they seem to have the worst radios. And the ATIS into Luton is a disaster. You are not able to get it due to interference until you are 50 miles from the airport. They don't clear you for the approach or localizer anymore (when on the loc, descend on gp). They have departures, which only Harry Potter could succesfuly fly.
As much as I enjoy the english culture if I make it through the airport into a city, I really do hate the attitude of the security guys and other complications, which you don't run into in the rest of europe. In fact, if I can, I will always avoid british airports, if travelling privately.
There seems to be an attitude "we are the best" even though sometimes I feel, that the years of glory have already passed and unless something is changed, they will not come back.
I am sure, that I am going to be crucified for my opinions, but hey, it is just my opinion.

Then there is Italy ....
 

Linate .... neat, cool, efficient and communicative .... and FCO .. the complete reverse .. there are no generalizations UK vs others ... there are good stations and less than good everywhere.

Now getting through security is another matter ..... discussed elsewhere.

I cant really speak for Europe, but certainly over here I think morale has been quite low at the station I am involved in. (NCL).

When I was working airside a few years ago, the attitude among the crews themselves, the banter with passengers and flying crews were what made the job a pleasure. This interaction kept spirits high and turnarounds were very much a team effort and there was pride in what we did. We knew a lot of the flying crews who were based at our station, and we helped each other out. I have even seen a first officer help out loading golf clubs when we were looking like taking a delay.

Although I no longer work at NCL, I know people who do, and they all agree the good old days are long gone. 25min turnaround times limits the chances that the crews get to know the flight crews, and as a result the teamwork element has dropped. With airlines getting really strict about delay codes, I am told that now everyone is always looking to allocate blames for delays on someone else and that cant be healthy. Add the fact that simple things like not being able to bring a bottle of lemonade to work (and being at the mercy of the airports retail prices) really have made people quite negative about the job itself.

How the British compare to the rest of Europe I don't know, but thats what I am told the attitude is like on the ground.

i fly into STN - ground personnel do an excelent job.

I am not sure, if this could be also a part of this thread. But what is going on in UK, that snow always shuts everything down? Do they have bad equipment or management or both?