Originally Posted by eghansen

I find this whole discussion unbelievably depressing. When I worked as a GA for Continental at IAH in the 1980's and 1990's, we busted our asses trying to get everybody on the aircraft.

I remember standing at the jetway door yelling at people coming down the corridor "Run! You've got one minute to get on this plane!" I remember agents calling from the ticket counter tell me "You've got two runners on their way" and I would stand out in the middle of the corridor looking for them. I kept my watch perfectly synchronized to the computer time so I could slam the door shut with 30 seconds to spare and not take a delay. I would check my inbound connect list every 3 minutes so that I knew exactly where every inbound aircraft was.

And this was at a time when a gate had only one GA and the tickets were collected at the door by a flight attendant.

It was like a combination of esprit-de-corps and machismo. GAs would brag in the breakroom "I had 14 inbound connects coming in on a flight which blocked 7 minutes before go time and everybody made it." The PSA (redcoat) would come down the concourse and ask "How many have you got so far from the Newark inbound?" and I would say "I count 11 so far." and the PSA would say "There should be 5 more. Give it 30 more seconds and then close the door."

Once in a while, I see an older GA at IAH that I can tell is from the old school. I can tell by the way they work, the effort the put in and their no-nonsense ability to assess and solve a problem quickly. The younger agents just don't give a .....

It is all very sad.