Wow...I can’t believe that employee on employee on customer treatment
#18
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: USA
Programs: UA Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,166
I wouldn't say so. OP didn't make a mountain out of this and I'd say the agent mistakenly berating another agent in front of a customer is a little more than a molehill. It's not something I would judge the entire company over but it's certainly a "..." anecdote.
#19
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: CLE
Programs: UA Platinum, Starbucks Gold, PF Chang's Warrior, Wine Century 100
Posts: 1,102
I'd forgotten what a cluster the IAD A1 series of gates were until I had the pleasure last week. Total chaos. Boarding 2 or 3 flights at the same time through the same door. Multiple announcements for neighboring gates - nobody can tell what the hell is going on.
At least when I went through it seems the staff was doing the best they can with a really bad setup for boarding all those commuter flights.
At least when I went through it seems the staff was doing the best they can with a really bad setup for boarding all those commuter flights.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; May 13, 2018 at 10:40 pm Reason: cleaned up formating
#20
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SEA
Programs: Million Miles achieved | 2017 Delta Platinum, United NADA, Global Entry, PreCheck, NEXUS
Posts: 1,295
And besides “Where do you get this info” How the heck does one know what it means.
#22
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Francisco, CA (SFO)
Programs: UA 1K, UA .53 MM, Marriott Gold, Nexus, GE, TSA Pre, Hertz PC
Posts: 581
The flight was out of the gate at 2:07 AM, which was four hours and two minutes late.
The flight took off at 2:19 AM
The flight landed at 3:12 AM
The flight was in the gate at 3:18 AM, which was three hours and 54 minutes late
I don't think front-line employees are as aware of the yellow wraps as Mileageplus is. I fly with mine and when seated in F (domestic), was asked if I was an employee when a late boarding passenger came on and was looking for baggage space. I identified the bag as mine and stated I was not an employee to a FA and she looked a bit puzzled seeing the "United" on the yellow wrap, but she said ok and nothing further came from it.
- LE
`Place where planes--generally after ground stop, GDP, or just running late get to wait while their gate opens; may also be used on departures for metering or flow delays. ORD actually has a space officially called the "Penalty Box" [on airport diagrams and a "Scenic Pad"] but used generically as a place somewhere out of ATC's way to bide time.`
Last edited by WineCountryUA; May 14, 2018 at 10:30 am Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
#23
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,324
"The Box" is the penalty box
`Place where planes--generally after ground stop, GDP, or just running late get to wait while their gate opens; may also be used on departures for metering or flow delays. ORD actually has a space officially called the "Penalty Box" [on airport diagrams and a "Scenic Pad"] but used generically as a place somewhere out of ATC's way to bide time.`
`Place where planes--generally after ground stop, GDP, or just running late get to wait while their gate opens; may also be used on departures for metering or flow delays. ORD actually has a space officially called the "Penalty Box" [on airport diagrams and a "Scenic Pad"] but used generically as a place somewhere out of ATC's way to bide time.`
#24
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: DEN
Programs: UA-GS; WN A-list;Hyatt - CC; Hertz - PC
Posts: 642
Aren't the GA's in A concourse at IAD all non-mainline staff? I stopped asking them for help years ago. Not that its an excuse but they typically have never known the intricacies of UAL business nor have a professional attitude.
#25
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Ex-MSP
Programs: UA: Plat, Marriott: Annual Ambassador, Lifetime Grandfather
Posts: 293
-mvitale
#26
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: CLE, DCA, and 30k feet
Programs: Honors LT Diamond; United 1K; Hertz PC
Posts: 4,134
I'd forgotten what a cluster the IAD A1 series of gates were until I had the pleasure last week. Total chaos. Boarding 2 or 3 flights at the same time through the same door. Multiple announcements for neighboring gates - nobody can tell what the hell is going on.
At least when I went through it seems the staff was doing the best they can with a really bad setup for boarding all those commuter flights.
At least when I went through it seems the staff was doing the best they can with a really bad setup for boarding all those commuter flights.
- There are two sets of doors leading out to the "fingers" but instead of putting a ticket lift station at each set of doors they put two ticket lift stations on one side and use the other for arriving pax only . It seems like just doing ticket lift on both side would alleviate a lot of the confusion/stress/disorder.
- It's a total crapshoot as to how boarding will be processed -- some will use both ticket lift positions for the same flight, some will dedicate a ticket lift station to a flight while the other is used for a different flight (but of course without any signage this makes things an even bigger mess). Some will board "all" flights using both ticket lift positions [but when they do that they usually negate the benefits by boarding group "1-4 for flight 1234" while boarding group 1 for flight 4567, and preboarding flight 8912].
- Someone with satanic tendencies in ops likes to put 4-6 flights with the same departure time at the same "Axy" gate ... e.g. for the flight that prompted this post, had it been on schedule there would have been 3 flights departing at 10:05 and 2 flights departing at 10:10 out of the A3-series of gates.
I don't mind IAD generally, but I hate the 3rd world country that is the A-gates with a passion; the only thing that makes it less awful is two of my GS shuttle rides have been C/D to A or VV.
Based on what I was seeing/hearing there Thursday night/Friday morning. (and the supervisor I pulled aside's ID badge) I'm pretty sure the agents in the terminal are all UA employees, but really far down the seniority list.
#27
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 11,359
It's like someone intentionally went out of their way to make it as awful as possible.
- There are two sets of doors leading out to the "fingers" but instead of putting a ticket lift station at each set of doors they put two ticket lift stations on one side and use the other for arriving pax only . It seems like just doing ticket lift on both side would alleviate a lot of the confusion/stress/disorder.
- It's a total crapshoot as to how boarding will be processed -- some will use both ticket lift positions for the same flight, some will dedicate a ticket lift station to a flight while the other is used for a different flight (but of course without any signage this makes things an even bigger mess). Some will board "all" flights using both ticket lift positions [but when they do that they usually negate the benefits by boarding group "1-4 for flight 1234" while boarding group 1 for flight 4567, and preboarding flight 8912].
- Someone with satanic tendencies in ops likes to put 4-6 flights with the same departure time at the same "Axy" gate ... e.g. for the flight that prompted this post, had it been on schedule there would have been 3 flights departing at 10:05 and 2 flights departing at 10:10 out of the A3-series of gates.
I don't mind IAD generally, but I hate the 3rd world country that is the A-gates with a passion; the only thing that makes it less awful is two of my GS shuttle rides have been C/D to A or VV.
Below-the-wing is all Swissport, and the folks who stand out on the fingers to make sure you don't wander onto the wrong flight are definitely contractors.
Based on what I was seeing/hearing there Thursday night/Friday morning. (and the supervisor I pulled aside's ID badge) I'm pretty sure the agents in the terminal are all UA employees, but really far down the seniority list.
- There are two sets of doors leading out to the "fingers" but instead of putting a ticket lift station at each set of doors they put two ticket lift stations on one side and use the other for arriving pax only . It seems like just doing ticket lift on both side would alleviate a lot of the confusion/stress/disorder.
- It's a total crapshoot as to how boarding will be processed -- some will use both ticket lift positions for the same flight, some will dedicate a ticket lift station to a flight while the other is used for a different flight (but of course without any signage this makes things an even bigger mess). Some will board "all" flights using both ticket lift positions [but when they do that they usually negate the benefits by boarding group "1-4 for flight 1234" while boarding group 1 for flight 4567, and preboarding flight 8912].
- Someone with satanic tendencies in ops likes to put 4-6 flights with the same departure time at the same "Axy" gate ... e.g. for the flight that prompted this post, had it been on schedule there would have been 3 flights departing at 10:05 and 2 flights departing at 10:10 out of the A3-series of gates.
I don't mind IAD generally, but I hate the 3rd world country that is the A-gates with a passion; the only thing that makes it less awful is two of my GS shuttle rides have been C/D to A or VV.
Below-the-wing is all Swissport, and the folks who stand out on the fingers to make sure you don't wander onto the wrong flight are definitely contractors.
Based on what I was seeing/hearing there Thursday night/Friday morning. (and the supervisor I pulled aside's ID badge) I'm pretty sure the agents in the terminal are all UA employees, but really far down the seniority list.
In any case, yes, there is a special chaos that results from these RJ flights being scheduled within 5-10min. of each other. IAD might be one of the worst, but it happens systemwide. I always wondered how much they save by scheduling this way instead of with 20-25min. separation.
#28
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: CLE, DCA, and 30k feet
Programs: Honors LT Diamond; United 1K; Hertz PC
Posts: 4,134
Is a 'ticket lift position' where BPs are checked? Sorry, not familiar with that term.
In any case, yes, there is a special chaos that results from these RJ flights being scheduled within 5-10min. of each other. IAD might be one of the worst, but it happens systemwide. I always wondered how much they save by scheduling this way instead of with 20-25min. separation.
In any case, yes, there is a special chaos that results from these RJ flights being scheduled within 5-10min. of each other. IAD might be one of the worst, but it happens systemwide. I always wondered how much they save by scheduling this way instead of with 20-25min. separation.
The practice of "banking" flights has long mystified me, not just as far as RJs go. On one hand I'm sure it makes business sense (or it wouldn't be something that virtually every network carrier does) -- but on the other it seems extremely inefficient as far as labor goes -- if you figure that you need 'X' agents (and rampers, etc.) per flight/gate and an agent spends 'Y' minutes working a flight, it would seem that by spreading flights by 'Y' (plus a buffer) minutes would allow 'X' agents to work the same number of flights versus having 5 flights at the same time where you need 5*X agents (though I guess if your agents are hourly and you have a sufficiently deep pool of labor this may be moot) ... I digress, but the business side of commercial aviation fascinates me.
#29
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 11,359
Exactly -- my fingers wouldn't let me type podium (both for the general misuse of the word [pet peeve: anywhere besides an airport you stand -behind- a lectern and -on- a podium] and the typical airline connotation for the central location where service happens pre-boarding.
The practice of "banking" flights has long mystified me, not just as far as RJs go. On one hand I'm sure it makes business sense (or it wouldn't be something that virtually every network carrier does) -- but on the other it seems extremely inefficient as far as labor goes -- if you figure that you need 'X' agents (and rampers, etc.) per flight/gate and an agent spends 'Y' minutes working a flight, it would seem that by spreading flights by 'Y' (plus a buffer) minutes would allow 'X' agents to work the same number of flights versus having 5 flights at the same time where you need 5*X agents (though I guess if your agents are hourly and you have a sufficiently deep pool of labor this may be moot) ... I digress, but the business side of commercial aviation fascinates me.
The practice of "banking" flights has long mystified me, not just as far as RJs go. On one hand I'm sure it makes business sense (or it wouldn't be something that virtually every network carrier does) -- but on the other it seems extremely inefficient as far as labor goes -- if you figure that you need 'X' agents (and rampers, etc.) per flight/gate and an agent spends 'Y' minutes working a flight, it would seem that by spreading flights by 'Y' (plus a buffer) minutes would allow 'X' agents to work the same number of flights versus having 5 flights at the same time where you need 5*X agents (though I guess if your agents are hourly and you have a sufficiently deep pool of labor this may be moot) ... I digress, but the business side of commercial aviation fascinates me.
Would love to see a comment from someone familiar with ops. I have done the same math and obviously wondered the same.