JustaRampagent

Good Morning All!

Today I had an incident with a FO from Air Wisconsin from ISP to PHL and I would like to share….

Now ISP is a very small station so most employees including myself are cross training. So this morning I was working the first flight checking in passengers and working the bag room. Now the flight leaves at 6:30AM and I arrive at 5:00AM. So today at 5:00am I checked the aircraft to see if deicing was needed, but today we were lucky there was no visible moisture and the temperature was no where close to freezing. So I proceed to help check in passengers. Normally in the winter time this flight is done by a total of 6 agents but now because of the “cut backs” only 4 agents. So at 6:00 I drive out to the aircraft with the bags and I see the FO doing the walk-around. A couple min late I walk onto the aircraft after the FO completed his walk-around and see if the FA needs anything. (ice) The FO looks to me and says “don’t even ask if we want to board” I was shock by his attitude but I figure it’s early and he got off the wrong side of the bed. Then seconds late he proceed to say how he was at the gate waiting for 26 min!!! and how no one was there to give them access to the aircraft. I said ok and listen to his concerns. Now the passengers begin to board and I see him and the FA talking to each other and looking at their watches. Now I’m in the cargo bin loading up the bags and I see the FO again with his flash light doing another “Pre-Flight” lol At this point I’m heated because I know what he was doing but I remain professional and continue to load the bags. Now its time to give the crew the paper work and the FO again ask me “why we were late” and I tried explain to him that we didn’t see them get off the hotel van and we had no way of know they were at the gate. I explain to him that we are working with less staff than usual and it would be best if he could just check in with us at the ticket counter say “good morning” and we would know the crew is here. His response was “that’s not his job” and we should know exactly what time to crew shows up every morning!!! At this point I really wanted to tell him what was on my mind but I notice the Captain didn’t say a word or make any facial expression. I know times are hard now but I’m tired of people saying “ramp agents don’t give a…” I always give 110% every time but for him to say “it’s not my job” was not cool. If everyone followed the philosophy of “it not my job” this industry would be in even worst shape than it is right now. I believe the flight went out 3 mins late…..I guess that his way of “showing us up” but it’s a lose lose situation if you ask me.

Sorry for my rant but to avoid this situation from occurring again, Please (and I know it’s not your job) any crew flying out of ISP in the morning next time just check in with the ticket counter. Usually 9 out of 10 times the paper work is already printed out and waiting for you but because we are currently short staff incident like this occur.

flyviper

I am so sorry you had to deal with such a lazy/uncaring F.O. Most of us will do all that we can to make you guy's life lot simpler, what so hard to work together nowadays?

evilboy

I'm with flyvioer, my apologies on behave of us lowly FOs. This guy is a retard. And btw, it is his job on the first of the day to show his face to an agent. And you'd think the Capt would want the paperwork right way too. So, don't let this ruin your day, nor your attitude.

ACEAV8R

oh how i missed working with the "i am greater than thou" jack offs. the rare few times i ran across someone like that(they learned not to make it a second time) i just pulled the book out on them. for example ops scripts(boarding times, show time at the gate, etc), sarcasm(which i am a pro at), or even a threat to call their dispatcher or cp(Mostly just a threat a few times i actually did call). i also wouldn't get angry or let it ruin my day. i know most of the pilots understand we are just trying to do our job and work with us but there are a few that are far in between who uses their attitudes to compensate for the lack downstairs. continue to be safe and professional.

BoilerUP

For starters, the FO was a 'tard who should have professionally voiced his complaints; he obviously never worked as an airline agent. Besides, AWAC pilots can send a delay code to dispatch saying that they were late because they weren't given access to the airplane...the delay wouldn't be on them anyway.

On the other hand, when I flew for AWAC I too had occasion to wait a long time at the gate after an early show, only for rampers to show up and get ****y at *us* because there was going to be a delay. As a flight crew member, I'm trained to go to the gate when I clear security to get access to the airplane for preflight, and if I can't get access to the airplane then obviously that causes problems. In those situations, I too have been known to be a little cranky if I haven't had my coffee...but I didn't unload on an agent who quite obviously was busting their ass and doing the best they could do.

A little understanding and professional courtesy between flight crews and agents goes a LONG way in serving the passengers...and THAT ultimately is everybody's job in the airline business.

ToiletDuck

From your post it would show that a new form of communication might help like a note or something. In MSP if I get to the gate and there's no one around I just grab the charging walkie talkie and say the flight crew is waiting at the gate. Maybe leaving something there for them would help.

He could have handled the situation better no doubt. When people are working they are working and you can't really ask more from them. Keep in mind you're both in different worlds where each has a different set of duties and responsibilities so it's easy for one to get frustrated with the other.

waflyboy

I would have gone straight to the ticket counter just to see if I could bypass security! Either this crew consisted of amateurs or they enjoy a good roughing-up by the TSA first thing in the morning. (Who doesn't, right?)

ground stop

haven't been to isp in awhile but didn't they close that security gate right by the usair ticket counter? i always tried to swing by the counter before we headed off to the plane but if they got dropped off near the new security checkpoint and skipped the ticket counter i can see how they might be a bit upset since it is a good walk around the terminal and with company wanting crews to be at the gate :45 min prior. still, the fo should have dropped it. you guys up there are pretty good, especially when there were leftover donuts.

Yzerman

As an FO, I really couldn't care less what time we block out, or board the aircraft. Yeah, I'd like to get the extra sleep if it's early and the van is only on the hour and we sit at the gate forever...

And I really hate coming back up from the walk-around to stand in line with the pax to get back on board. More than once I've found something on the walk-around that ended up cancelling the flight. (Like a bent standby pitot tube. Thanks, DTW Mesaba gate agents.) To summarize: LET ME FINISH MY ******* BEFORE YOU BOARD otherwise you may have to pull everybody off...

Return to topic: But if the gate agent can't let us down, what can we do? Nothing.

Anyway, "Put the late on me if it makes you feel better," is what I tell them if it comes to that. I have a real hard time lately giving a ******* about anything but safety and going home.

ebl14

While I do agree that the FO didn't handle things very well, I will say this. It is very annoying to get to a gate on time, wait around till 15-20 mins till departure, then have the pax follow you down the jetbirdge onto the plane. If the gate agent screwed up and forgot about us, thats fine, I understand. But why dump all the pressure to get out on-time on the crew when they haven't even had a chance to power up the plane and do any preflight work? If its your screw up than man up and take some responsibility, chances are the crew will do more to help things out this way. If you take enough (legitimate) late-outs maybe someone higher on the food chain will consider hiring back some of your lost compadres.