We Were Delta Air Lines Gate Agents for the Morning
Nov 18, 2010, 5:27 pm
#331
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Flying to a boat
Programs: DL DM/2MM, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 823
I apologize for being so late with this report, but this is the first time I’ve made it home since the DO.
I was the one guy that worked Baggage Claim instead of Gate Agent on Sunday, and I thought I would share a few observations from my experience. I hope I remember the process correctly...
Baggage Claim is a “feast or famine” type of environment. There can be many hours with no customers, and some hours with a ton. The morning I worked there, we handled 2 people in the Sky Priority office, neither of them actual Sky Priority customers, and neither of them grumpy. So we spent most of our time walking through the different baggage areas, following the many-layered process of reuniting a bag with its owner, and just chatting with employees and shooting the breeze. I also learned that most everything about you and your history with Delta is available just with your SM#- including your status, when you obtained it, when it expires, when you hit 1 million miles, etc. So yes, they do know exactly who you are.
I was surprised at how many levels exist of trying to reunite you with your bag, once you become separated from it. The 1st level is you filing a claim in the baggage office, and seeing where the computer says your bag is. The bags are scanned several times throughout their journey, so this is the best indication of what happened, where it is now, and how to get it to you.
The 2nd level is when a bag is left on a carousel without being claimed. The bag is put into a holding room, waiting for someone to claim it. In theory, if it is not claimed within 3 days, an employee tries to contact the customer to figure out what to do with the bag. In our perusal of the holding room, we found many bags that had been there for a lot longer than 3 days.
The 3rd level is when there is no bag tag on the suitcase, and no obvious way to contact the customer. This requires an employee to open the suitcase and look through the contents, trying to find a business card or hotel or dry-cleaning receipt, anything to indicate who owns the bag. While it may sound amusing to go through someone elses suitcase looking for treasure, its mostly dirty laundry, and gloves are required. We found a digital camera in one suitcase, and it had the owners name and phone on a sticker on the camera, so it was a happy ending. I was surprised to learn that this process is often done by a single employee, working alone. While the people I met seemed honest and credible, it sure reinforces the mantra of not putting anything valuable in your checked luggage!
The 4th level is when nothing can be found to identify the owner. All of the contents are inventoried and entered into a computer system that is shared by most major airlines of the world. Things like “men’s Nike tennis shoes, white, size 9” are entered. When everything is listed, the computer searches for an item match from all of the claim forms submitted worldwide, and gives a probability percentage. If it looks promising, contact is made with the customer.
The 5th and final level is when all of the above fails. The luggage is sold to a thrift-warehouse type place, typically by the pound, who then sells what they can.
In general, the luggage handling areas are dirty, somewhat disorganized, and not very conducive to a happy work atmosphere, especially when compared to Delta’s other work and break areas. Where the GA’s and FA’s have clean, modern break rooms and locker rooms “upstairs”, the luggage dept. break room and lockers are somewhat 1970’s warehouse rundown, and in the basement. A few dollars invested here might make employees a whole lot more happy and productive.
Compared to how hard and fast GA’s need to work, the luggage folks are very laid back and not in a rush. Not to be overly critical, but it seemed to me that one person with some motivation could clear out all the held and abandoned bags in a week, and keep the place pretty clean, at least until a holiday rush with weather issues. There didn’t seem to be much supervision, and folks seemed to plod along at an easy pace.
While it was certainly educational and interesting, and I am most thankful to the employees that spent some of their time with me, I think I would recommend that this venue be skipped next year, as the GA for a day seemed to offer much more to the DOers.
And finally, a secret of the baggage office: they have a variety of brand new bags, strollers, child seats and golf club cases in the storage room, which they can offer you to instantly replace a damaged item. So if you pull your bag off the carousel and it has fresh tug tracks on it, broken wheels and ripped handles, stop by the office and ask for a replacement...
I was the one guy that worked Baggage Claim instead of Gate Agent on Sunday, and I thought I would share a few observations from my experience. I hope I remember the process correctly...
Baggage Claim is a “feast or famine” type of environment. There can be many hours with no customers, and some hours with a ton. The morning I worked there, we handled 2 people in the Sky Priority office, neither of them actual Sky Priority customers, and neither of them grumpy. So we spent most of our time walking through the different baggage areas, following the many-layered process of reuniting a bag with its owner, and just chatting with employees and shooting the breeze. I also learned that most everything about you and your history with Delta is available just with your SM#- including your status, when you obtained it, when it expires, when you hit 1 million miles, etc. So yes, they do know exactly who you are.
I was surprised at how many levels exist of trying to reunite you with your bag, once you become separated from it. The 1st level is you filing a claim in the baggage office, and seeing where the computer says your bag is. The bags are scanned several times throughout their journey, so this is the best indication of what happened, where it is now, and how to get it to you.
The 2nd level is when a bag is left on a carousel without being claimed. The bag is put into a holding room, waiting for someone to claim it. In theory, if it is not claimed within 3 days, an employee tries to contact the customer to figure out what to do with the bag. In our perusal of the holding room, we found many bags that had been there for a lot longer than 3 days.
The 3rd level is when there is no bag tag on the suitcase, and no obvious way to contact the customer. This requires an employee to open the suitcase and look through the contents, trying to find a business card or hotel or dry-cleaning receipt, anything to indicate who owns the bag. While it may sound amusing to go through someone elses suitcase looking for treasure, its mostly dirty laundry, and gloves are required. We found a digital camera in one suitcase, and it had the owners name and phone on a sticker on the camera, so it was a happy ending. I was surprised to learn that this process is often done by a single employee, working alone. While the people I met seemed honest and credible, it sure reinforces the mantra of not putting anything valuable in your checked luggage!
The 4th level is when nothing can be found to identify the owner. All of the contents are inventoried and entered into a computer system that is shared by most major airlines of the world. Things like “men’s Nike tennis shoes, white, size 9” are entered. When everything is listed, the computer searches for an item match from all of the claim forms submitted worldwide, and gives a probability percentage. If it looks promising, contact is made with the customer.
The 5th and final level is when all of the above fails. The luggage is sold to a thrift-warehouse type place, typically by the pound, who then sells what they can.
In general, the luggage handling areas are dirty, somewhat disorganized, and not very conducive to a happy work atmosphere, especially when compared to Delta’s other work and break areas. Where the GA’s and FA’s have clean, modern break rooms and locker rooms “upstairs”, the luggage dept. break room and lockers are somewhat 1970’s warehouse rundown, and in the basement. A few dollars invested here might make employees a whole lot more happy and productive.
Compared to how hard and fast GA’s need to work, the luggage folks are very laid back and not in a rush. Not to be overly critical, but it seemed to me that one person with some motivation could clear out all the held and abandoned bags in a week, and keep the place pretty clean, at least until a holiday rush with weather issues. There didn’t seem to be much supervision, and folks seemed to plod along at an easy pace.
While it was certainly educational and interesting, and I am most thankful to the employees that spent some of their time with me, I think I would recommend that this venue be skipped next year, as the GA for a day seemed to offer much more to the DOers.
And finally, a secret of the baggage office: they have a variety of brand new bags, strollers, child seats and golf club cases in the storage room, which they can offer you to instantly replace a damaged item. So if you pull your bag off the carousel and it has fresh tug tracks on it, broken wheels and ripped handles, stop by the office and ask for a replacement...
Nov 18, 2010, 7:11 pm
#332
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Upstate, NY
Posts: 3,359
Wow! Thanks for sharing! I remember when you volunteered for that position I was thinking...that could be pretty cool, to see "behind the curtain" so to speak!
Cool! This actually happened to a friend several years ago w/ Northwest. Her bag had been pretty badly damaged and after a while discussing it with the baggage office they offered her a suitcase. She had assumed it was a lost/abandoned one from someone else... Glad to know it is in fact not someone else misfortune that led to her getting a new bag.
And finally, a secret of the baggage office: they have a variety of brand new bags, strollers, child seats and golf club cases in the storage room, which they can offer you to instantly replace a damaged item. So if you pull your bag off the carousel and it has fresh tug tracks on it, broken wheels and ripped handles, stop by the office and ask for a replacement...
Nov 19, 2010, 12:42 pm
#333
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Rural TN (but WAS native)
Programs: National Executive Elite, none of the others matter
Posts: 23,823
I have another follow-up - today was my first day since the Do with a fairly lengthy connection in ATL so I made a trek over to T Concourse. The individual I worked with happened to be at the same gate, T-8. He was tickled I would seek him out to deliver a Job Well Done certificate for his patience and insight.
Dec 10, 2010, 3:22 pm
#334
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: ATL - DL DM/3MM - HH Lifetime Diamond - Marriott Lifetime Plat
Posts: 3,117
Who did I see as I was getting off my flight today? My very own gate agent - she has been accepted for an in-flight position and is waiting for a start date for her 8 weeks of FA training.
She told me that she checks up on me to make sure that all my connections are in order - apparently GAs can look up anybody in the system and send notes to the appropriate station letting them know about tight connections etc.
This explained being able to walk off my plane in SCL to the next gate for my flight to ATL and still having my FC seat and then having them close the door behind me a few weeks ago.
I love having my own Gate Agent!
She told me that she checks up on me to make sure that all my connections are in order - apparently GAs can look up anybody in the system and send notes to the appropriate station letting them know about tight connections etc.
This explained being able to walk off my plane in SCL to the next gate for my flight to ATL and still having my FC seat and then having them close the door behind me a few weeks ago.
I love having my own Gate Agent!
Dec 10, 2010, 5:00 pm
#335
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
Dec 10, 2010, 5:39 pm
#336
Join Date: May 2008
Location: SFO
Posts: 851
Who did I see as I was getting off my flight today? My very own gate agent - she has been accepted for an in-flight position and is waiting for a start date for her 8 weeks of FA training.
She told me that she checks up on me to make sure that all my connections are in order - apparently GAs can look up anybody in the system and send notes to the appropriate station letting them know about tight connections etc.
This explained being able to walk off my plane in SCL to the next gate for my flight to ATL and still having my FC seat and then having them close the door behind me a few weeks ago.
I love having my own Gate Agent!
She told me that she checks up on me to make sure that all my connections are in order - apparently GAs can look up anybody in the system and send notes to the appropriate station letting them know about tight connections etc.
This explained being able to walk off my plane in SCL to the next gate for my flight to ATL and still having my FC seat and then having them close the door behind me a few weeks ago.
I love having my own Gate Agent!
Dec 10, 2010, 9:16 pm
#337
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: ATL - DL DM/3MM - HH Lifetime Diamond - Marriott Lifetime Plat
Posts: 3,117
Feb 1, 2011, 3:31 pm
#338
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: USA
Programs: DM-(DL)/CO/AA/US/ RW (Road Warrior)
Posts: 2,185
I wasn't sure if I should start a new post or if this was okay.
Anyway the link below reminds me of the day when 80 FT spend half a day being a DL Gate Agent in Oct. 2010. ^
http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2011/0...es-gate-agent/
Even sports players get a chance to be a DL gate agent.
What's next movie stars and supermodels?
Anyway the link below reminds me of the day when 80 FT spend half a day being a DL Gate Agent in Oct. 2010. ^
http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2011/0...es-gate-agent/
Even sports players get a chance to be a DL gate agent.
What's next movie stars and supermodels?
Feb 1, 2011, 4:36 pm
#339
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SAV
Programs: Atlanta's hometown airline. A bunch of hotel programs. PetSmart PetPerks.
Posts: 2,531
I wasn't sure if I should start a new post or if this was okay.
Anyway the link below reminds me of the day when 80 FT spend half a day being a DL Gate Agent in Oct. 2010. ^
http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2011/0...es-gate-agent/
Even sports players get a chance to be a DL gate agent.
What's next movie stars and supermodels?
Anyway the link below reminds me of the day when 80 FT spend half a day being a DL Gate Agent in Oct. 2010. ^
http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2011/0...es-gate-agent/
Even sports players get a chance to be a DL gate agent.
What's next movie stars and supermodels?
Feb 1, 2011, 6:19 pm
#340
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Atlanta
Programs: DL:PM - Reserve, 2MM, FC, RW; HH: SILVER MR: SILVER
Posts: 1,225
