After a much needed nap, I am awake again. I will post more details about today’s experience in the blog at some point, but let me make a few initial comments here. First, of all the venues that you will be experiencing over the four days, this one, without a doubt, will forever change your view of what these incredibly hard working men and women do for Delta on a daily basis. We all thought we understood their role from a passenger experience, but I am here to tell you, you are in for a major eye-opening experience.
Simply put, I am in awe.
Will you be involved? That is a major understatement. Between the four of us, we made announcements, scanned boarding passes, printed endless paperwork, got pilot and ramp sign-offs, catered ice that was missing, boarded an international flight, provided connecting flight assistance, handled mis-connected passengers and bags, answered an overwhelming amount of questions that come at you at an incredible pace - what gate is my flight was departing out of? Direct people to the Rest Rooms, the Sky Club, and the list goes on and on… and all this before 10:00 am.
Today is a great example of why we do a “dry run”. We all learned from the process. We de-briefed after it was over. We will be adding some details, and making some changes so that we are even more prepared for the rest of you when you show up in four weeks. You will have a cheat sheet of the JL codes to look up flight and gate information on your own, as well as information to have situational awareness of where the closest Restroom and SkyClub are located, and be able to quickly and effectively direct people to the escalator to the (left or right at the food court ), depending on whether they are going to Baggage Claim, or one of the other concourses. This varies depending on the gate and concourse you are at, and you may be directing a passenger who has never been in the ATL airport, so you want to get it right.
The question my daughter asked when I got home… did anyone lose their temper or get mad. I happened to be at
Canarsie’s gate and we ended up dealing with two such situations. Yep, they were right in our face, and one was even throwing things on the ground in a major temper tantrum and yelling at us about the
*&^#$*! Gate display being wrong. I happy to report, we put our best customer service skills into practice, and while they didn’t get to board the flight because the door was already closed, we did manage to calm them down and get them on later flights.
So… my advice to all of you: Be excited, and come prepared. You will have fun. You will also work incredibly hard. Wear comfortable, and I mean comfortable shoes, you will be walking a good deal, and standing most of the time. Bring your smile, practice saying “Thank you” and “have a good flight.” Bring your desire to help passengers no matter how confused they seem. And finally, bring your patience and ability to listen, and express concern, you are going to need it.
Both you and the Gate Agent you will be assigned to work with, will learn a great deal from each other in this process. For those of you participating, I am happy to report, the actual experience overwhelmingly exceeded our wildest expectations!
WELCOME ABOARD!