Cobbled together gate boarding crew
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Alaska
Programs: MVPG75, Club 49, OWE, Hilton, Bonvoy, Enterprise Plus, MGM, AA, BA
Posts: 80
Cobbled together gate boarding crew
Leaving RDU to SEA on the 10th, it took a long time to see anyone besides a lone agent at the desk.
Anyway, after maybe fifteen minutes, a young guy with a safety vest stepped behind the desk, and another guy with a scanner stood there to help the process. It was straight out of a comedy movie. The original agent just stood by, not speaking or participating at all by then.
Military pre-board was skipped over entirely,(this is personal to our family) after the families and FC boarded. The young guy asked that "A club" stand to the left of the desk, which made no sense.
Just a different experience. I guess it's allowed though. Any employee is flexible?
Anyway, after maybe fifteen minutes, a young guy with a safety vest stepped behind the desk, and another guy with a scanner stood there to help the process. It was straight out of a comedy movie. The original agent just stood by, not speaking or participating at all by then.
Military pre-board was skipped over entirely,(this is personal to our family) after the families and FC boarded. The young guy asked that "A club" stand to the left of the desk, which made no sense.
Just a different experience. I guess it's allowed though. Any employee is flexible?
Last edited by AkGirl59; Sep 14, 2022 at 6:01 am Reason: too long
#2
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Seattle
Programs: Costco Club
Posts: 1,155
Leaving RDU to SEA on the 10th, it took a long time to see anyone besides a lone agent at the desk. (When we had checked in, the baggage CSA may have been new, since he had trouble comprehending SEA for the day, and not final destination of ANC the following morning. 10 am flight, so no all nighter in the airport))
Anyway, after maybe fifteen minutes, a young guy with a safety vest stepped behind the desk, and another guy with a scanner stood there to help the process. It was straight out of a comedy movie. The original agent just stood by, not speaking or participating at all by then.
Military pre-board was skipped over entirely,(this is personal to our family) after the families and FC boarded. The young guy asked that "A club" stand to the left of the desk, which made no sense.
Just a different experience. I guess it's allowed though. Any employee is flexible?
Anyway, after maybe fifteen minutes, a young guy with a safety vest stepped behind the desk, and another guy with a scanner stood there to help the process. It was straight out of a comedy movie. The original agent just stood by, not speaking or participating at all by then.
Military pre-board was skipped over entirely,(this is personal to our family) after the families and FC boarded. The young guy asked that "A club" stand to the left of the desk, which made no sense.
Just a different experience. I guess it's allowed though. Any employee is flexible?
#3
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Seattle, WA & Red Lodge, MT (USA) and Cumbria, England
Programs: AA Platinum for Life, AS MVP Gold 100K, Marriott Titanium for Life, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 186
I don't understand the point of this post. I fly to BIL often, and it's normal for the person who checked your bag to de-ice the plane later. At stations with only a few flights a day, (generally) everyone is trained to do everything.
#4
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Washington DC
Posts: 1,358
We got to the gate, and nobody was there. After a while, the lady from the ticket counter showed up at the gate and handled the boarding process!
I almost expected to see her also loading the baggage into the cargo hold, but fortunately there was someone else who did that.
#5
Join Date: May 2012
Location: DCA, lived MCI, SEA/PDX,BUF (born/raised)
Programs: Marriott (Silver/Gold), IHG, Carlson, Best Western, Choice( Gold), AS (MVP), WN, UA
Posts: 8,736
so? Alaska has 1 or 2 flights a day at RDU, it’s a contractor employee who likely works other airline flights and may have gotten confused and could be burnt out. Did you get to where you were going safely? People need to stop complaining about the mundane, society is going to crap.
i agree
many many airports have contracted employees who operate multiple airlines and move around between gates and airlines. Staffing tied to the number of flight they have. A few calling in sick can cause chaos.
i think my alaska crew on my flight on Sunday way a floater sky west crew who fly different airline metal.
#6
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: bay area, ca
Programs: AS 100K, AA Gold, IC Diamond AMB, HH Diamond
Posts: 1,840
I have forgotten where this was (probably US Air, years ago), but at some tiny airport, we had to check our bags at the ticket counter as it was a small plane with small overhead compartments. Only one employee was at the ticket counter.
We got to the gate, and nobody was there. After a while, the lady from the ticket counter showed up at the gate and handled the boarding process!
I almost expected to see her also loading the baggage into the cargo hold, but fortunately there was someone else who did that.
We got to the gate, and nobody was there. After a while, the lady from the ticket counter showed up at the gate and handled the boarding process!
I almost expected to see her also loading the baggage into the cargo hold, but fortunately there was someone else who did that.
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Alaska
Programs: MVPG75, Club 49, OWE, Hilton, Bonvoy, Enterprise Plus, MGM, AA, BA
Posts: 80
It was an observation, not a societal flaw, lol.
Other pax nearby also commented about the process, and it was some comic relief too. Have a good, non judgemental day,
Other pax nearby also commented about the process, and it was some comic relief too. Have a good, non judgemental day,
#8
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: SEA & LMT
Programs: AS100K, AS Lounge+, Marriott Plat, SBUXG, GE, Costco Exec, Amazon Prime, Nat Parks Yearly Pass
Posts: 274
This reminded me of several SEA-SAT-SEA mileage runs I did in the months after Alaska started the flights to SAT many years ago. Those flights had low passenger loads and were easy UGs for as low as $79 IIRC.
There was a nice, young gate agent at SAT who handled the boarding process on most of those flights. I chatted with him several times picking up my new boarding pass as he usually processed all the UGs at the gate.
At some point, Mrs the42ndstate and I decided to spend a weekend at SAT. We picked up a couple nice bottles of scotch and needed to check our bags for the departure back to SEA. That nice, young fellow was working the ticket counter, and recognized me and came over apologizing for not having the F lane open. We hadn’t been UG’d yet, but he went ahead and processed the UG list and handed us our new boarding passes.
There was a nice, young gate agent at SAT who handled the boarding process on most of those flights. I chatted with him several times picking up my new boarding pass as he usually processed all the UGs at the gate.
At some point, Mrs the42ndstate and I decided to spend a weekend at SAT. We picked up a couple nice bottles of scotch and needed to check our bags for the departure back to SEA. That nice, young fellow was working the ticket counter, and recognized me and came over apologizing for not having the F lane open. We hadn’t been UG’d yet, but he went ahead and processed the UG list and handed us our new boarding passes.
#9
Join Date: May 2012
Location: DCA, lived MCI, SEA/PDX,BUF (born/raised)
Programs: Marriott (Silver/Gold), IHG, Carlson, Best Western, Choice( Gold), AS (MVP), WN, UA
Posts: 8,736
This reminded me of several SEA-SAT-SEA mileage runs I did in the months after Alaska started the flights to SAT many years ago. Those flights had low passenger loads and were easy UGs for as low as $79 IIRC.
There was a nice, young gate agent at SAT who handled the boarding process on most of those flights. I chatted with him several times picking up my new boarding pass as he usually processed all the UGs at the gate.
At some point, Mrs the42ndstate and I decided to spend a weekend at SAT. We picked up a couple nice bottles of scotch and needed to check our bags for the departure back to SEA. That nice, young fellow was working the ticket counter, and recognized me and came over apologizing for not having the F lane open. We hadn’t been UG’d yet, but he went ahead and processed the UG list and handed us our new boarding passes.
There was a nice, young gate agent at SAT who handled the boarding process on most of those flights. I chatted with him several times picking up my new boarding pass as he usually processed all the UGs at the gate.
At some point, Mrs the42ndstate and I decided to spend a weekend at SAT. We picked up a couple nice bottles of scotch and needed to check our bags for the departure back to SEA. That nice, young fellow was working the ticket counter, and recognized me and came over apologizing for not having the F lane open. We hadn’t been UG’d yet, but he went ahead and processed the UG list and handed us our new boarding passes.
just gives me flashbacks to the times when the person operation the luggage check outside security thrn went to behind security and became the gate agent.
#10
Join Date: May 2012
Location: DCA, lived MCI, SEA/PDX,BUF (born/raised)
Programs: Marriott (Silver/Gold), IHG, Carlson, Best Western, Choice( Gold), AS (MVP), WN, UA
Posts: 8,736
I have forgotten where this was (probably US Air, years ago), but at some tiny airport, we had to check our bags at the ticket counter as it was a small plane with small overhead compartments. Only one employee was at the ticket counter.
We got to the gate, and nobody was there. After a while, the lady from the ticket counter showed up at the gate and handled the boarding process!
I almost expected to see her also loading the baggage into the cargo hold, but fortunately there was someone else who did that.
We got to the gate, and nobody was there. After a while, the lady from the ticket counter showed up at the gate and handled the boarding process!
I almost expected to see her also loading the baggage into the cargo hold, but fortunately there was someone else who did that.
#11
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263