New Gate Podiums At Clt
- Thread starter N607P
- Start date
Where to begin???
In one city I know of...
We cant even get radios that work for all the supervisors/agents to use, forget about giving one to the flight attendants. We try to have every RSS/CSS with a radio and the Express gate also gets two radios for their ops. The counter has a radio that is sometimes listen only and baggage has no radio.
The readers are supposed to eliminate dupe seats so that shouldnt be a problem. The crew must get the captain to radio ops who in turn calls the gate.
When the overheads are full, the bags pile up outside the door of the plane until the agent comes down to close out the flight.
The seating indicator must be changed by someone for every flight to get the computer to allow seating of nonrevs when the flights are open. It depends on the city/agent working the flight. I know our coordinator will usually go in for the day when the flights have 20-30 seats open and drop it to at least allow employees to be seated. Sometimes when they are wide open (which isnt very often), they'll even drop it for companions to be seated at checkin. In a hub with hundreds of flights, I doubt this is high on their list and by the time the agents start working the flight, most nonrevs have probably already checked in. It does make it easier though if they can remember to lower the seating level.
As I've said before, the problem is going to come from all of the things that happen at the podium that people dont think about. Someone loses their ticket, they checked in and didnt get an eticket, yet they've made it to the gate anyway, people look at their boarding cards and finally notice they arent sitting together, someone wants to upgrade, the flight is oversold, standbys, "I just have a question since you arent busy", etc......
Thank goodness many days are not that bad, but with 1 agent at the gate, I feel like the chances for that are going to climb....
In one city I know of...
We cant even get radios that work for all the supervisors/agents to use, forget about giving one to the flight attendants. We try to have every RSS/CSS with a radio and the Express gate also gets two radios for their ops. The counter has a radio that is sometimes listen only and baggage has no radio.
The readers are supposed to eliminate dupe seats so that shouldnt be a problem. The crew must get the captain to radio ops who in turn calls the gate.
When the overheads are full, the bags pile up outside the door of the plane until the agent comes down to close out the flight.
The seating indicator must be changed by someone for every flight to get the computer to allow seating of nonrevs when the flights are open. It depends on the city/agent working the flight. I know our coordinator will usually go in for the day when the flights have 20-30 seats open and drop it to at least allow employees to be seated. Sometimes when they are wide open (which isnt very often), they'll even drop it for companions to be seated at checkin. In a hub with hundreds of flights, I doubt this is high on their list and by the time the agents start working the flight, most nonrevs have probably already checked in. It does make it easier though if they can remember to lower the seating level.
As I've said before, the problem is going to come from all of the things that happen at the podium that people dont think about. Someone loses their ticket, they checked in and didnt get an eticket, yet they've made it to the gate anyway, people look at their boarding cards and finally notice they arent sitting together, someone wants to upgrade, the flight is oversold, standbys, "I just have a question since you arent busy", etc......
Thank goodness many days are not that bad, but with 1 agent at the gate, I feel like the chances for that are going to climb....
The other day, coming out of one of our cities, the Agent was trying to call the podium from the telephone down on the Jetway. It was not working. She says it happens all the time and she had no radio, so she used her own Cellphone to call. I asked her if this was Company or hers. Hers, she said. Maybe the Company could issue cellphones to all agents. 
Also, having the Captain to call Towers to call the podium seems illogical, since the walk up the jetway would require a lot less time.
Another question. How are they going to handle those passengers in wheelchairs?? Or those needing special assistance??? :huh:
Also, having the Captain to call Towers to call the podium seems illogical, since the walk up the jetway would require a lot less time.
Another question. How are they going to handle those passengers in wheelchairs?? Or those needing special assistance??? :huh:
MarkMyWords
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- Aug 20, 2002
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Tad -
You da man! Thanks for the info. I agree, there are days and certain flights that will be an absolute nightmare to work with one agent. The people that I know are saying that the staffing models are going to be about 1.5 agents per gate. I would hate to be that multi-functional, split personality agent that is expected to be in 2-3 places at one time!
KT -
They haven't decided what to do with the center check-in podiums yet. It is my understanding that they will stay where they are, but there will be sinage direcing customers to the door poduims. It would be to costly to take the podiums out.
You da man! Thanks for the info. I agree, there are days and certain flights that will be an absolute nightmare to work with one agent. The people that I know are saying that the staffing models are going to be about 1.5 agents per gate. I would hate to be that multi-functional, split personality agent that is expected to be in 2-3 places at one time!
KT -
They haven't decided what to do with the center check-in podiums yet. It is my understanding that they will stay where they are, but there will be sinage direcing customers to the door poduims. It would be to costly to take the podiums out.
MarkMyWords
Veteran
- Aug 20, 2002
- 1,900
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to remove the podiums would ne having to retile the floor under where they were and filling in the holes where the phone, electric and computer wires were run. Not to say that they won't be removed at some point, but not in the near term.
Wheel chairs, UM's, Special assists will still be moved by the lone agent......if there is a large volume of customers with needs, I am sure they will have a CAR assist them. Not much different from what happens today. And don't forget, you will still have that .5 agent somewhere.
Wheel chairs, UM's, Special assists will still be moved by the lone agent......if there is a large volume of customers with needs, I am sure they will have a CAR assist them. Not much different from what happens today. And don't forget, you will still have that .5 agent somewhere.
And don't forget, that many times Agents are trying to man their stations when planes arrive and they have to leave to pull the jetway up to the a/c. Boy oh boy, in places like PHL and CLT it could reek havoc. Pit shouldn't be too much of a problem since it's pretty much history. :down:
jimntx
Veteran
It's been recommended that even cheap walkie-talkies from Radio Shack--one set to each gate--could work. The company has always rejected every suggestion.mweiss said:
The way it usually works is that you have 2 agents at the gate. The one who is manning the gate reader stays in place and keeps boarding process moving. The one working the podium will periodically go down to the a/c to check on problems, etc. That way catering, seat dupe problems, etc can be handled without stopping the boarding process.
The one agent per gate idea gets thought of at headquarters periodically. Past experience and failure is never a barrier to trying it again. "This time you just have to do it better/faster/insert adverb of choice here."
jimntx
Veteran
Actually, it works pretty well with two most of the time. The one working the podium has to be the one to go down to the a/c periodically--usually only one time once boarding begins until final closeout. Yes, the podium is unmanned for awhile, but so be it. Main thing is to keep the person working the gate reader in place so that boarding can continue.MarkMyWords said:
But, as I said, any thing that works well is bound to get "fixed" by management. Gate agents are some of the most creative people I've ever seen at developing a working system for check-in and boarding no matter what barriers get erected that should prevent them from doing their jobs.
jimntx
Veteran
The way it's should happen is that all special needs folks get boarded before general boarding begins, but then...ktflyhome said:
After 1500 years of fighting among those Balkan hill tribes, there should be peace in Yugoslavia.
I see a particular problem with UMs. Unless you have designated escorts who stay with the kid until signed over to the f/a crew, the agent will have to stop the boarding process while they escort the kid down to the plane, or the kid will have to wait until all other passengers are boarded.
Because of the Federal requirements for individual briefing of the UM, this would be just what the flight crew needs at departure time--a last minute UM who has be to briefed before any other activity is completed. <_<
speedbird86
Advanced
- Aug 20, 2002
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I need off next Tuesday. Wonder if a gate reader or kiosk could work for me.
F/A's and Agents COULD work much more efficiently together regarding boarding, IF F/A's were allowed to be on the jetway after boarding starts. I have always thought this a stupid rule. Towards the end of boarding when there are tons of bags to check, a F/A could have already put tags to the final destination and the rampers could have already loaded them. But NO, everyone has to usually wait around til the end, when the Agent CAN get there to put tags on. It could help expedite many things. <_<
jimntx
Veteran
KT, the problem I see with f/as off the plane after boarding starts is that it would be no time before someone in management would start pressuring the GAs to start boarding before all the flight attendants arrive at the a/c. And, if a f/a can step off onto the jetbridge, "oh what can it hurt if the f/a just runs up the jetbridge to the gate to tell the agent something." If a rule gets bent, it's usually no time until it gets broken. The rule that says minimum f/a crew must be on the a/c if there are passengers on board is a good rule.ktflyhome said:
I understand what you are saying, but F/A do need to be on board prior to boarding to check Emergency Equipment, pre-flight, etc. So there is no way Agents could board flights. But one single F/A assisting in matters to expedite boarding and certain situations that arise can save alot of headache for all concerned. And being as though it looks like the company is only going to have 1 agent manning flights, it sure seems we will face more crunch time.
MarkMyWords
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- Aug 20, 2002
- 1,900
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Jim,
I am not so sure I agree. Not allowing a crew member to step on to the jetway to answer the phone or to call for assistance is rather petty. If the FAR minimums are 3 and you have 2 F/A's onboard (one for each end of the aircraft), where is the harm if the third person steps off the aircraft. you still have 2 F/A's onboard in the evnet there was an emergency or a need to evacuate the airplane. There was a time when the F/A's could walk up to the gate agent and tell them that the bins were full, or they had a dupe seat and no one ever tried to board an airplane with no crew members onboard. I don't see the harm in allowing a F/A to step off the aircraft as long as there were at least F/A's onboard to cover both the forward and aft extis and take care of any incidents that may come up.
I am not so sure I agree. Not allowing a crew member to step on to the jetway to answer the phone or to call for assistance is rather petty. If the FAR minimums are 3 and you have 2 F/A's onboard (one for each end of the aircraft), where is the harm if the third person steps off the aircraft. you still have 2 F/A's onboard in the evnet there was an emergency or a need to evacuate the airplane. There was a time when the F/A's could walk up to the gate agent and tell them that the bins were full, or they had a dupe seat and no one ever tried to board an airplane with no crew members onboard. I don't see the harm in allowing a F/A to step off the aircraft as long as there were at least F/A's onboard to cover both the forward and aft extis and take care of any incidents that may come up.
