I spend enough time in airports to know that I would never want to be a gate agent. Some agents are just nasty, but most try their best and get gangraped (I suppose that is a bit strong) by passengers when something goes wrong beyond their control.
It doesn’t help when you work for United Airlines and I’ll be the first to say that Newark gate agents have a bad reputation, but watch this scene in the videos below (shot from two angles for your viewing pleasure!) and see whether you feel more sorry for the passengers or gate agent.
A bit of background: UA120 from Newark to Barcelona had been cancelled on 6/15 due to a mechanical problem and passengers were either rebooked on UA120 the next day or UA2096, the extra section that was also to be operated on 6/16. Turns out UA2096 went mechanical again (same airplane!) but rather than cancel the flight, a new 757-200 was found and passengers were notified of a gate change and a minimal delay. It seems that most did not take the news well–
Until the very end, when the gate agent loses his cool and tells passengers they are on their own if they miss their flight, I truly sympathize with the gate agent. Not so much after that comment, but it is still curious to me why passengers tend to express frustration the way they did here – as if that would fix the airplane…
It is not at all surprising that this is United rather than Delta or American (though it can happen to any carrier) and I am sorry to report that United seems to be in a deep funk (they also lost some important golf clubs yesterday).
I would not want to be a gate agent…
Sad but true, though if I had to venture a guess, it would be that these passengers were subjected to the patented United creeping delay, where an original 15-minute delay became a cancellation 5 hours later. That doesn’t excuse the behavior in the video at all, but if that is what happened, I can understand the frustration.
I would add that this kind of behavior on the part of passengers isn’t just limited to air travel and gate agents. While I was in Bermuda, this American family boarded the city bus I was riding on, and one gentleman immediately proceeded to scream at the bus driver because she was trying to explain to him that he needed to fold his baby stroller and put it in the storage compartment at the front. He then proceeded to demonstrate how to fold the stroller in the most condescending way possible, apparently mad that he couldn’t just block the entire bus aisle with the thing. Even better, the wife started playing the “kids” card, i.e. anyone criticizing couldn’t possibly understand because they must not have kids. Boy did I feel sorry for that poor bus driver…
Matt,
I actually think that being a gate agent offers an incredible experience with an immense learning curve in terms of gaining familiarity with airline operations and customer service. Most people who work in gate agent positions actually truly love their jobs. I wouldn’t base this stereotype off of one video, although the scenario depicted above certainly does occur from time to time.
However, my thoughts are invalidated as it applies to United. The toxicity between United’s various labor group and its management is hitting an all-time extreme. There is literally zero coordination when it comes to defining mutually-shared goals, assuming ownership over irregularities and responsibilities and overall, reinforcing a sense of pride for working for United.
Not that I want to turn this into a UA-bash session, but I do think that the scenario depicted above can be isolated into two separate events: being a gate agent vs. being a UA gate agent.
I’m confused as to how you can’t understand the passengers’ frustration. We tend to forget that we are animals… very evolved animals yes… but still animals that have instinctual tendencies for anger, fear and self defense. To put it simply, we all have our breaking point.
I’m reminded of an incident a few years back where a foreign traveler that didn’t speak English was detained in a Canadian airport for immigration issues for 15 hours. He obviously became frustrated out of probable fear and that he could not communicate with anyone and started getting irritable. He was eventually tased to death. I remember thinking to myself “How are people not outraged by this?”
You can’t just look back in hindsight and make blanket judgments on the situation. As another commenter suggested, there probably were hours and hours of rolling delays, lack of communication, lack of transparency, then a full 24 hour delay with MORE lack of communication and transparency. After all of that they are then told AGAIN that they need to move to a different gate and will be accommodated. After the terrible experiences they had just endured, I think it’s very HUMAN to be skeptical and demand answers before being pushed off again to somewhere else. “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.” If you were lied to or screwed over by someone several times… would you be more skeptical the next time? I think 24 hours was just these people’s limit!
Many passengers are ignorant jerks. Do they really think that by loudly yelling to a gate agent and further sh!t stirring up a mob reaction will get them what they want?
The gate agent should not have been “dismissive” in the end. He could have avoided even more “hysteria” by —
C O M M O N — S E N S E !!!