One month into the furlough, AT-SAT, and the Aircraft Experience

So it's been nearly a month that I've been furloughed. Looking for work has been my full-time job, but since I am furloughed, those who have seen my application fear that I will return to the airline, which may happen, unless I find something better and stay with that.

Now, shortly after I found out that furloughs were going to occur at my airline, I applied with the FAA as a "controller trainee". This coming Tuesday, I will be taking the AT-SAT (Air Traffic Selection and Training) test in Ft. Lauderdale. We'll see how that goes. I'll post my views on the test here.

The following Thursday, it's back to Ft. Lauderdale for me. I will be attending the Aircraft Experience sponsored by Porsche Dealers of South Florida. It should be pretty cool. I'll be posting photos on the sister blog, "Four Stripes for Flying", as well as on my Facebook profile.

Three days and counting...

I'm currently at work, three days away from the furlough. I've been searching for work, but nothing has come about. I'll be filing for unemployment for the first time in my life. But this time away from work will allow me to get a little traveling done (if I'm gutsy enough). I was not able to travel at all this year, so this may be my window of opportunity. Go to LA, and debut my poetry and debut myself as a professional writer, go to Philly and have a genuine cheese steak, get my passport and visit my family in Costa Rica (and possibly find love, since I have no luck here in the States), or visit Europe. All where my airline flies, since I'll still have flying benefits on said airline.

Three days away from furlough, and I'm wondering...where can I travel? Where should I travel? Should I travel?

We'll see. Specific locales will be featured in my travel blog, "World Traveler". Aviation specific travel information will be posted here. LA specific travel information will be in "Southern California Gold".

I'll keep posting as much as I can. But we'll see.

Sitting in wait...

So here I am, at Palm Beach International Airport, sitting in wait. Waiting for something to happen. Something extraordinary...

A few weeks ago, not too far from where I sit now, a beautiful young lady sat near me, as I was waiting for my ride home. I wrote a poem about her, which you can read at golf.november.world, one of the recent posts..."Intersection of Solitude".

She is a pretty girl born in Florida, but raised (and currently living) in a small town in my home state, in Redding, California. She is involved with a church that deals with the supernatural (something that I'll admit, scared me, though I held back my fears to prevent offending her. My faith isn't that popular with most people, so I would know where she's coming from. I would like the same respect for my religion as she wishes for hers).

This intersection of solitude was the meeting of two souls, two beings, two persons by chance, both opening up to each other, and never to be seen again. She had the prettiest blue eyes...and her blond hair was just as beautiful. But, if you read the poem, you'll also note that there is another that I am holding out hope for.

And the intersection of solitude strikes again tonight.

As I was writing this, I was called into my office by a customer (or who I thought was a customer...actually another airline employee). I found some promising news that comes against this furlough. Air Wisconsin may be hiring flight attendants soon, and I am really considering applying to work as a flight attendant. I'll get used to the life of flying as air crew for an airline, and it will allow me to make contacts with pilots at the airline so when I get my ratings, it will be easier for me to get into the right seat, and make it faster for me to make it to the left seat.

Now...when is my food arriving?

"There Will Be Furloughs"...

"There will be furloughs", my manager told me.

With that, my greatest fear was confirmed. I was in a position where I would be furloughed from my job. The economy played a big factor, but another factor that caused the layoffs was the recent transition to the flight boarding method the airline I work for adopted: from two agents to a flight to only one, and a computer to scan boarding passes. Technology, which is what many airlines have been pushing for, is killing jobs everywhere. I'm all for the progress of aviation, though; don't get me wrong. However, I realized that most progress comes at the expense of people. Eliminating the navigator, then the flight engineer...all that was a product of the advancement of aviation.

However, aviation as an industry should stand out, not as a cutthroat industry, but one that helps people do what they need to do. And that is my vision for my contribution for aviation.

After getting the news, I have already applied to work as an air traffic controller (which, coincidentally, the FAA started hiring off the street the same week that I got the announcement). I'll keep you guys posted on how that goes, if it does blossom into anything. I'm just hoping to get a test date right now.

It's not our fault you missed your flight...

You have no idea how many people miss their flights and blame it on us.

People simply want to absolve themselves of all responsibility, and blame the airline for everything. Today, for example, at the ticket counter, a person walked up to the kiosk to check in, and after I told him he was late, he began cursing and swearing, saying all sorts of stuff, and all the while, trying to blame me for HIS error.

For entitlement, people also say some of the craziest things. If a flight is delayed due to reasons beyond the airline's control, no compensation is provided. Why? It wasn't our fault. Simple as that. If, let's say, an airplane had a mechanical delay, then if the situation applies (i.e., delayed more than 4 hours, compensation is provided in the form of vouchers for free food), compensation is provided. But if it's anything else, forget it. Today, a woman, younger than me by a year, with her newborn child, demanded to receive compensation for a delayed flight. The delay was caused by air traffic; responsibility falls on the FAA on that one, since it affect not just every airline, but general aviation as well. And even then, this was not caused by congestion. It was caused by inclement weather. The supervisor told her "no" to compensation. It was not our responsibility. She then demanded to check a bag free (I do not work for Southwest Airlines). I told her no.

A few months ago (and this one riled me up, since I was paying off some medical bills), a hospital director/surgeon (not sure if he was bluffing), flying to Greensboro, North Carolina, asked to fly only to Charlotte, North Carolina (he was connecting in Charlotte, then onto Greensboro). I told him he could do it, but would cost him a change fee plus difference in fare. He didn't understand the concept, since he figured we could simply change the bag tag (he checked two bags) to say that he was flying only to Charlotte. He got upset, needless to say. He didn't want to pay the change fee, nor the difference in fare. A supervisor got involved with the madman, and waived the difference in fare, which was well over $400 US, but nothing. He went on to Charlotte, no-showed for the Greensboro flight, and the bags went as tagged to Greensboro. They were sent back to Charlotte for the doctor to pick up. If he couldn't afford to pay the ticket reissue, I certainly hope he could afford the minimal gas that he had to put in to his Aston Martin.

Why did this one rile me up so much? I had to get three months worth of medication for a skin and nail infection. Each bottle was a month's worth. A month's worth of pills, and a month's worth of pay. Each bottle was about $500. And that is AFTER benefits. If I could pay for those pills with the chicken scratch pay I get, he, a doctor, a self-proclaimed hospital administrator, could most certainly pay for the difference in fare and change fee! Hell, he could even buy the tickets first class the entire way there! But, no! Because he wasn't getting his way, he had to make a big stink about it. Well, guess what, doc? Tough luck! I had to suck it up when I paid for those pills. And you don't see me yelling at the pharmacist because the pills are way out of my budget. Yes, it's life and death, just as it was in his case (he was supposedly operating on a patient the following morning).

The days of the airlines treating passengers like royalty went away with deregulation in 1978. The consumer was helped out with lower ticket prices at the expense of airline operability, finance, pay, and safety. So don't even bother. We, as employees, are suffering as much as you are. You refuse to pay the right price for tickets. And guess where that bites us employees: IN OUR PAYCHECKS! Thank you, paying customer.

Another day, another day...

That's how I've been seeing work lately. Just another day.

When I started, I was dumbfounded. So much to know, and do, and in such a short span of time! It was crazy!

I got home that day, not sure if I wanted to go for more, but I took the beating.

There were some days where I would want to go into work. There were others when I loathed it. But it was just another day.

A few nights ago, I had a run-in with a passenger whose bags were delayed after doing a triple connection from Europe to Palm Beach. After the claim was done with his wife, he barged into the office like an elephant in heat, and demanded to know where the bags were. He kept at it, pressing the issue, interrupting my work with other passengers, and it got to the point where I called the police on him. They came late, though. His own son pulled him out of the office...physically. What a tirade!

People are strange. And it's another day at work.

A Sense of Entitlement...

So I may wear the uniform of an airline. So I may be employed by said airline. Does that give anyone the right to yell, berate, harass, bother, pester me, or impede with my job duties?

Some will say yes. They will say that I am an airline employee, and that they are a customer. They come first.

And they are right. They do come first. After a couple of other things.

First and foremost comes safety. You can have the airline with the greatest customer service in the world. But if you are operating with unsafe conditions all the time, or crashing planes all the time, no amount of customer service will fix that.

Next, security. I can't elaborate much on this subject, but let's just say that part of our job description includes preventing another 9-11.

Those two things come ahead of customer service, and justly so. I'd rather get a miffed person as opposed to a person who receives my help only to get his or her self, or someone else, hurt or killed.

A couple of nights ago, a person came up at the baggage belt, which I was watching over, and noticed after the bags made one lap, his did not make it.

"Can you do something about it?" He asked. I replied that I will as soon as everyone gets their bags, as I cannot leave them unattended. He became upset at this. I wasn't in the mood to tango either, and I told him again, sternly, that when all the bags are picked up, I will go in the office and help him.
"Oh, come on! Don't be like that! DO SOMETHING!", he yelled. I put up my hand to stop him, and I told him again, "For the last time. When the bags are picked up by their respective owners, I will be able to pick up the bags. If you don't want my help, the police will be willing to assist me in helping you." At that point, he backed off.

Was invoking the name of law enforcement necessary? He drew my attention from watching over the bags, and the entry and exit areas in the terminal. I'm not willing to lose my job over that. Especially in this economy, forget it! And I say this for all of my airline customer service brethren around the world.

Working baggage, you learn to expect the worst from the passengers. When I was assigned this position, this is what I feared the most. Prior to this, I would rarely see passengers upset (rare being 2 to 4 times a month). I mean, yes they are upset, but not to the point where they would physically display their anger.

We'll see how things go.

Part "Één"...A first post

Working at the airport, you see a lot of things. You get to meet a lot of people, and you get to indirectly learn about psychology. You see extremes at the airport terminal. Ticket counter, gates, baggage, I've worked all three.

I work for a major airline, as you can see in my profile text. Just recently, I had my two-year anniversary with my airline. And so far, I'm satisfied with my job. Every day, I encounter different people, and have made some sort of effect in their lives, which I find satisfying, and enjoyable.

This first post I'll take to relate some of the things I have seen people do at the airport.

My first day on the job was okay. I was very nervous, and rightly so. I had no idea of what I had to do, and I was practically thrown to the wolves.

My second day on the job, I was yelled at for the first time as an airline employee. The customer's bag was a few pounds overweight. First thing I did was look to my supervisor who was next to me, who then said, "You need to take some weight out of that bag". They replied "That's how it came down". The supervisor said, "Well, at that weight, the bag will cost $50." He moved the weight, I took over, and he said "your #### airline sucks, m#########", and walked off. My supervisor saw what happened, and simply smiled and said, "Welcome to the airline industry, Gil!".

I have seen the strangest things in my life. The nearly 700 days I have been employed by my airline, I have seen many things that I will tell my grandchildren, and that you will now know.

Have you ever seen a woman, a mother, walking around in a polo shirt? I'm sure we all have. Have you seen one with all her shirt buttons undone? Or how about one with a breast hanging out (covered only by her bra)? One with her breast hanging out of the shirt neck, undone, and not even notice? I think not!

It is customary to show your ID to the agent tagging your bag. What happens when you do not have one?

Well, I had an interesting encounter with a man who claims he lives in a nudist colony not far from the airport (his shirt said so...ironic he had one on). This man was looking for his wallet after I asked him for his ID. Now mind you, this man is a good 80 years old. His daughter is in her 60s. After about a minute of the old man searching for his missing wallet, his daughter pulls out a magazine. She asked me if I could see his picture in a magazine. Before I could finish saying that I had to see a government-issued ID, she opens the magazine to show the same old man without so much as a thread of fabric on his body. They caught me off-guard. This made me the laughing stock of the ticket counter, and where even other employees of the same airline in other cities knew about my encounter of the naked kind. He ended up finding a wallet in a pocket in his cargo shorts (apparently, he didn't know how to use them).

I have also seen an old lady, standing across the hall from our ticket counter, drop her rolling bag, open it, and promptly change in front of everyone, and not even noticing that people are around her, staring in disbelief.

Another thing that I have noted is people's sense of entitlement. Especially when they pay a dirt-cheap fare. They pay for McDonalds and are expecting Cordon Bleu service. On top of that, the way people get so riled up about even the smallest things shows just how ridiculous people can become.

But that's just what I'll post for now. More funny things later!

Happy flying!