Stripe

Thanks for sharing your experiences. This is the best thread I've read on FT in some time. Makes me even more irritated I'm not able to make the weekend. (Parents' weekend at my college freshman daughter's school.)

That seems quite ridiculous. I would have expected the companion process to be much simpler. Just go up to the agent and they attach another pax to your record as a companion. What did ticketing do that then made it possible for you to process the companion upgrade?

You said there were plenty of F seats. Did you or the GA consider offering to upgrade both the DM and his/her companion?

IME in ATL the GA doesn't even attempt to rebook pax. He/she simply sends them to the "service" center.

How easy is it to deviate from the order in the list?

Dovster

I would imagine that this would have to be set up before-hand, as it would require the knowledge and agreement of those working the shift. Who would I have to ask?

WesNSpace

I had my backpack and it fit in the cabinet space provided for agents BUT you also have to remember that you will be sharing that space with another agent. The agent and I had to do a little puzzle-solving to get her bag and my backpack in the cabinet.

Gargoyle

That's ok, but do you speak Georgian? Because Dovster will need a translator.

atldlff

Glad everyone is enjoying the thread and hearing about the experience first hand. Canarsie and I talked about it on the way home yesterday afternoon. He said, “Remember when you conceived this idea, and got excited about the possibility, but said I wonder if we could actually make this ever happen?” Just goes to show what a little creativity, asking politely and being persistent can accomplish.

The Delta employees participating in the “Walk a mile with Atlanta ACS” venue are equally excited as we are to be a part of this. This event will be a mutually beneficial event – in addition to the great insight FT members will gain, the Delta Agents really want to hear about the ACS experience from a customer point of view, and learn how they could improve that experience in the future. IMO, this goes way beyond a focus group getting feedback. It brings the both sides together in a learning, exploring and sharing environment. Just so you know, some of the ACS employees that will be participating in this venue, volunteered to do so on their OWN time.

As I stated in the event thread, we have opened a significant number of slots at the Friday and Saturday evening dinners so that many of the ACS team that are participating in this event, will also be engaging with us in a more relaxed and social setting both evenings. So, you will get a chance to ask more questions, as well as interact with in a fun and less stressful environment.

I have to say that I was actually pretty impressed with some of the tools that the gate agents now have at their disposal. There are several windows containing all kinds of information - status of inbound connecting flights, current aircraft seat map (which recently was upgraded to show premium passengers) the current stand-by list, the current upgrade list in priority order, a flight timer at the top of the screen, on-board count screen, a double split screen window used to access Deltamatic, and the list goes on and on.

My Gate Agent was absolutely incredible. She started by showing me locker, the supplies, explained the different printers, then made me check the paper in all three printers. She showed me how to work the boarding pass scanner, the PA, and the Radio. She logged in and stood over my shoulder while and walked me through the entire process of checking in a flight. When I was interrupted by passengers asking for gate information, she showed me how to use the JL codes to look up a flight number, city and get the current gate number. She wrote that information down for me, and I used it again a countless number of times. (This information will now be on your cheat sheet). One of the passengers that was sitting at the gate, even told her what a great job she was doing training the new employees. We both got a laugh out of that. The first flight of the day is critical. Get that flight out on time, and you are in much better shape to have a good operational day.

In addition to working the outbound flight, it was about 5 mins. before the inbound flight arrives. You know the drill, and this gets repeated over and over for three to four flights in a row. Four hours literally flew by. There isn’t much idle time built into the morning schedule. But if your experience is like our’s, you will be disappointed that it was all over so quickly. We were all laughing – wait, we just got the hang of it. All four of us enjoyed so much, you guessed it – we are signed up to do it again on Saturday morning at the event.

atl runner

Yes, there will be a secure room where your carry-on luggage can be stored while you are participating in the Gate Agent event.

Canarsie

I do not recall the exact circumstance that required Ticketing to be involved, as the gate agent took over from there.

However, the request was fulfilled and both took their seats in the first class cabin.Of course, but the Diamond Medallion member never placed the request.

The flight was short enough that it may not have been worth the trouble for the request to be made...Well, the gate agent, me and atldlff, who was on a short break from his gate and visited me to see how I was doing, all attempted to first see what we could do to get them on a flight that was already closed, as they were connecting from Ghana, but all of our efforts were to no avail.It appears to be very easy, but I never dared to try it — nor would I want to play around with that.

I personally know how seriously Delta SkyMiles Medallion members value their upgrades...This is absolutely correct.In addition to the room being locked, we were told that there will also be at least one person in that room at all times.

jimrpa

I thought I remembered seeing in another thread that you were a vegetarian (I pay attention to these things as I am one), hence it seemed an appropriate joke.

Thanks also for the comment about the job situation. Right now, I'm gainfully employed, but my company has been disposing of bodies as quickly as it can. In fact, we just jettisoned about 600 executives (of course, with a sweet package).

Burj

Someone asked about not working the gate of a regional flight...

I posted about this at the time...but one thing that REALLY irked me was taking a Pinnacle operated CRJ-900 from ATL to ROC. The gate agent let us board as normal but the FA's got upset with *us* that none-of our bags were valet tagged.

Apparently they said it was their policy, even on a CRJ-900 that *ALL* rollaboards had to be valet checked. So apparently there was some kind of breakdown in communications as the gate agent hadn't made anyone valet check anything.... So it could be fun/interesting to work a RJ flight as part of "the mix" of flights we may work.

Burj

This brings up an interesting issue... In general...what happens if something happens with that first flight, goes mechanical, is delayed, etc.... Does the GA stay until the flight is resolved (departs or is cancelled)? If they do stay what happens to the next flight they were suppose to work?

It was mentioned that you were really busy the entire time, so if there is little slack in the system then what?

I suspect that this is one reasons for the whole "Sorry for the waiting 10 feet short of the gate, but we are waiting for someone to operate the jetbridge" phenomenon that is ALL to common at ATL...

During your experience...did any of you have to deal with enforcing carry-on limits (size or number)?

WesNSpace

At my gate the agent ended up having issue pink tags on a full flight as I scanned BP's. The agent did a great job watching the bags but never had to say anything except handing a few pink tags out.

Burj

interesting...as far as the GA is concerned...when bags get pink tagged, do they log/register those bags at all...or do the ground crew do that? I assume that somewhere/somehow the airline has to keep track of who has luggage in the hold of the A/C....

browell

Uhhhh, C-Gates! if that MIGHT be ASA, wouldn't THAT require a lobotomy?


sorry, too many bad ASA ATL CS experiences......

Burj

I'm really looking forward to the DO and the "Walk a mile..." event...

It would be cool to do a "mini-do" where we could be Regional Elite agents for a day!

At the smaller airports I often fly out of (ITH, ELM, BGM)...the agents there get to guide the planes in, load/unload luggage, work the ticket counter and then work the gate....

It all seems so cool...of course probably NOT a lot of up fun in winter...

OH...and they also get to deal with all the luggage claims when an RJ arrives and half the people on it are missing their luggage (not an uncommon problem apparently!)

Burj

This has come up in another thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...bp-msp-14.html

where someone had their first class seat taken away, you can read the details in that thread....BUT going back and re-reading Canarsie's original quote...

What does "not show up" mean? Does that mean not checked in? Because if they have checked in the GA has no idea that they aren't standing/sitting somewhere in the gate area.

I know there was an explanation that the computer system helps a GA see if a pax is coming from another flight, where/what is going on with that flight.

But what happens when this is the pax first flight and they did check in (maybe the day before via on-line)...doesn't the GA wait until T-15 min before "busting" the seat?