Text 25633, 95 rader
Skriven 2015-04-04 16:30:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Austin 457
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We were a tad behind, so our visit to Ops was a little
rushed. No problem, as most of us have seen Ops before, at
bigger more frenzied airports. Here, we arrived at a lull
in the action, so the controllers got to impart a lot of
information in a short time, before the next batch of
gawkers pounded on the windows and shouted for us to
vacate the premises so they could get their oar in.

The next activity was Ramp Rodeo, where we were allowed to
get hands on with some of the equipment (sufficiently
isolated from the live flights, of course). Our guide here
was a jolly fellow who kept us in stitches and could have
a career as a standup comedian (if the airline industry
contracts any more, he might need to use that talent); we
also had specialists to show us their particular talents
and let us have a hand trying some of their duties, which
turn out to be not so straightforward as a passenger's eye
view would indicate. I got to run the deicing gun (getting
full marks for accuracy, oddly enough) and was offered the
chance to drive the tug and/or the baggage tractor. As I've
not driven a motorized vehicle in some years, er, decades, I
declined, instead choosing to run the jetbridge (a bigger
motorized vehicle, but at least attached to something), for
which I also got full marks. These were all under training
conditions, of course, not real life. Later and back inside

at the gate, though, we were supposed to get to do real
stuff, loading a plane, scanning boarding passes, and
(something that seems unaccountably dear to our hearts)
reading the PA announcements. Having spent almost 50 years
getting paid for making noise in public, that doesn't appeal
to me so much. The trip we were working, UA1746 to SFO, was
delayed because of ATC on the other end. Bad for us and the
passengers both. Paul, one of the gate agents on duty, gave
a rundown on what normally is done to get a plane loaded and
ready to go (i.e., the process that we would have helped or
hindered as the case may be if the flight had been on time).
The highlight for me was when he showed us the new front end
for the ancient text-based system, complete with color-coded
flags for the status of each passenger and notes about his
or her reservation and itinerary. As I am vision-impaired to
a degree, I crowded right close to the podium, so when,
10 minutes or so before scheduled departure, it was time to
do the upgrades (all who had elite status on United had
already been accommodated, so there were Star Golds up at
the top of the list by now), and he asked Who wants to play
God, I was right there. With one magic click I upgraded some
passenger with an Armenian name. Passenger with an Armenian
name, be thankful that I didn't goof up and click on
somebody else's record!

Alas, both we and the flight were running so behind schedule
that even though it was lunchtime, even if we'd forgone that
the flight wouldn't have been ready for us to do anything,
so we skedaddled onward. The flight ended up almost an hour
and half late, and we were glad to have been out of there
before it was time for the agents to do the real hard stuff
- dealing with irate and inconvenienced passengers.

Instead of lunch we went to the club. I guested in my friends
Miff and Lilli (who is entitled on her own but couldn't find her
card), and we made a beeline for the bar to demolish a bunch
of glasses of wine, which real employees - one hopes - would
not have been entitled to do, even if not (as we were not)
expected to do any more work for the day.

Scheduled up: a tour of Maintenance. This was outside. It
was cold. Our stint here was minimal - we listened to the
chief mechanic talk about the importance of his job and his
station (Austin gets more traffic and more variety of
equipment than many) and then we freezingly went away; I
hope I remembered to thank him for his time and effort. 

On to Baggage Service, which was inside. We learned about
replacement luggage, delivery services, and amenity kits
for distressed customers (Delta has the best). Our final
stop was the much more nitty-gritty Bag Room, outside of
course but warm enough because of all the machine and human
activity. The people at Service are the public face; down
there amid the machinery are the real workings. The handlers
were surprisingly enthusiastic and surprisingly public-
relations aware and were, as all the employees we met, good
ambassadors for the brand. We got to do more heaving of
awkward objects - the United people took a picture of me
being clumsy on a surprisingly heavy bag (ha ha, I never
check one myself, good joke, United people).

That was that. We gave sincere thanks to the employees -
from corporate as well as the local station - who had taken
time to accommodate us, said our goodbyes, and proceeded
out to our next destinations.

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