ORD Staffing
 

Was anyone at ORD yesterday? I don't fly out of ORD too much (once or twice a year), but yesterday was my first IRROPS situation at ORD.

I was highly concerned at the fact that there were only 5 CO GA's (actually one disappeared a few hours in) manning all four active gates. All the CO GA's look like they were either about to punch everyone in line (which was all like a mile long) or just break down and cry. I felt really really bad for them.

UA GA's tried to help but couldn't do much as they had no idea about the CO systems.

I know this won't be an issue once the operating certs merge and the system merges, but c'mon! Also, why is there "United" support at gate B4? There were 3 people manning that station which offered NO help to any of the pax. I'm confused by that (and so are many other pax).

Sytems still aren't anywhere close to integrated yet, so whenever there are IRROPS, you can expect [things to go badly]

ORD 8/13
 

We were there. It was a complete SNAFU. Very disappointing that there was no help available from all the United staff around. The lack of information for passengers, poor PA systems (people had to shush each other so that announcements could be heard), uncomfortable seating (who decided to shove all those rows of seats into such a weird arrangement?) and generally poor information flow all around made for a very unpleasant 8 hours.

We were trying to get back to Houston, scheduled on 1550, a 753 that came in late from Houston due to weather, then took another 4+ hour delay due to some mechanical issue. There was another mechanical delay with one of the 737s (I think Newark bound), which might have led to a cancelation, and with all the weather delays and missed connections, there were several hundred very unhappy passengers being served by far too few gate agents. Lines were hours long, it didn't seem worth trying to ask any questions, and phone agents didn't seem to know much.

One gate agent, an asian heritage woman wearing a United uniform whose name I didn't catch, remained remarkably calm and composed even as her fellow agents (and a redcoat) were tearing their hair out. She was very deliberate and competent, but it was way too much for even the best agents. She helped us switch to the flight that had been scheduled out before ours, and we managed to land at IAH about 1:15 am. Our bags arrived on our original flight that landed 35 minutes later, so we waited for them and got home close to 3 am. Long day; weather can't be helped, but better and more frequent information might have saved a lot of aggravation.

Added: Almost forgot: We moved to flight 1748 (the delayed 3:41 departure). We watched the arrival of the catering truck after we'd been seated. There was only a single cart with some drinks and ice, leading to some consternation by the flight crew who had to make due with limited service items and no food. At least there was some alcohol, but why catering wasn't "normal" is also peculiar.

I watched her performance and wish I could give her a golden star. She was def calm and composed with all the IAH people screaming at her (and/or cursing her out).

I also noted the bad PA system as (at one time) she had to climb the counter and give instructions about IAH flight being delayed.

Is this woman in her 50s? If so I know her well. She is a machine. I HATE working with her becuase she does seat changes in her head (even dozens of them on a widebody) and remembers them all, but doesn't inform the passengers, so if I am working the gate reader, they all beep as a duplicate person in the seat. My admiration for her is sky high, becuase I can't remember what I had for breakfast and she can remember all of the changes she makes without any visual reference, but as all the info is in her head and not on the computer or hardcopy, I have no idea what she has does, unless she learns the vulcan mind meld.

But again, she is an incredible agents with skills that I am in awe of. Truly a robotic machine at staying level headed. I've never seen her mood change...ever.