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Gate agents work at the boarding gates of airports where passengers board their flights and arriving planes drop off passengers.
Shifts vary with the particular airline's flight schedule, and, like ticket agents, gate agents must wear uniforms and put on a pleasant face for the public.[ citation needed ] Agents have a variety of duties depending on the size of the airline, including making boarding announcements, assigning seats, handling standby passengers, monitoring jet way doors during boarding and disembarkation, and assisting in customer service duties. [1]
Gate agents have the ability to upgrade people's seat if they have the desire to. Typically, on an oversold flight, gate agents will move someone up to first class who is courteous, patient, and well-dressed. They do not want to seat someone who is poorly dressed next to their best customers in first class. If the flight is not oversold, gate agents are not able to upgrade people's seats because the process is entirely automated and the computer decides who gets the upgrade based on elite status. [1]
Gate agents are able to see everything about each customer's flight ticket. They are able to tell how much someone paid for it, where it was bought, and when it was bought. They are also able to see how many miles someone has, when their birthday is, and even their address. [1]
American Airlines, Inc. (AA) is a major American airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the world's largest airline when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passenger mile. American, together with its regional partners, operates an extensive international and domestic network with almost 6,800 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. American Airlines is a founding member of the Oneworld alliance, the third largest airline alliance in the world. Regional service is operated by independent and subsidiary carriers under the brand name American Eagle.
Price discrimination is a microeconomic pricing strategy where identical or largely similar goods or services are transacted at different prices by the same provider in different markets. Price discrimination is distinguished from product differentiation by the more substantial difference in production cost for the differently priced products involved in the latter strategy. Price differentiation essentially relies on the variation in the customers' willingness to pay and in the elasticity of their demand. Price discrimination, very differently, relies on monopoly power, including market share, product uniqueness, sole pricing power, etc.
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing operating costs and without some of the traditional services and amenities provided in the fare, resulting in lower fares and fewer comforts. To make up for revenue lost in decreased ticket prices, the airline may charge extra fees – such as for carry-on baggage. As of October 2019, the world's largest low-cost carrier is Southwest Airlines, which operates in the United States and some surrounding areas.
Spirit Airlines, Inc. is an American ultra-low-cost carrier headquartered in Miramar, Florida in the Miami metropolitan area. It is the seventh largest commercial airline in the United States. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States and in the Caribbean and Latin America. The airline operates bases at Atlantic City, Baltimore, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, and Orlando.
A boarding pass or boarding card is a document provided by an airline during check-in, giving a passenger permission to enter the restricted area of an airport and to board the airplane for a particular flight. At a minimum, it identifies the passenger, the flight number, and the date and scheduled time for departure. A boarding pass may also indicate details of the perks a passenger is entitled to and is thus presented at the entrance of such facilities to show eligibility.
An electronic ticket, often called e-ticket, is the digital ticket equivalent of a paper ticket. The term is most commonly associated with airline issued tickets. Electronic ticketing for urban or rail public transport is usually referred to as travel card or transit pass. It is also used in ticketing in the entertainment industry.
In the airline industry, a baggage handler is a person who loads and unloads baggage, and other cargo for transport via aircraft. With most airlines, the formal job title is "fleet service agent/clerk", though the position is commonly known amongst airline employees as a "ramp agent", due to the job's location on the airport ramp (tarmac).
Duty-free shops are retail outlets whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country. Which products can be sold duty-free vary by jurisdiction, as well as how they can be sold, and the process of calculating the duty or refunding the duty component.
Miles & More is the largest traveller loyalty programme in Europe with 25 million members as of March 2014. It offers rewards to passengers of the Star Alliance travelling on certain types of tickets. The programme was launched by Lufthansa (LH) in 1993 and has about 40 airline partners, including the 28 airlines of the Star Alliance. The programme enables its members to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles on all of the fully integrated airlines, all Star Alliance members as well as several other partner airlines. Furthermore, there are more than 270 non-aviation companies affiliated with the programme. These include partners from the hotel, car rental & cruise industries, subscriptions & books, banks & insurance, telecommunications & electronics industries as well as shopping & lifestyle. Customers are able to build status, which gives them access to certain privileges. Miles & More is free of charge.
Overselling or overbooking is sale of a volatile good or service in excess of actual supply. Overselling is a common practice in the travel and hospitality sectors, in which it is expected that some people will cancel. The practice occurs as an intentional business strategy where sellers expect that some buyers will not consume all of the resources they are entitled to, or that some buyers will cancel. The practice of overselling aims to ensure that 100% of available supply will be used resulting in the maximum return on investment. However, if most customers do wish to purchase or use the sold commodity, it may leave some customers lacking a service they expected to receive.
On most modern airlines, flying standby occurs when a passenger travels on a flight without a prior reservation for that specific flight. There are four circumstances in which passengers typically fly standby. First, a missed flight may require a passenger to fly standby on the next flight to the same destination, as they now lack a reservation. Secondly, a passenger may arrive at the airport early and wish to take an earlier flight listed for that day. They will then attempt to travel standby on the earlier flight, and failing that, proceed to take their booked flight. This is referred to in the industry as "go-show".
On November 20, 2006, 6:30 pm, six Muslim imams were removed from US Airways Flight 300 to Phoenix, Arizona, at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, because several passengers and crew members became alarmed by what they felt was suspicious behavior. The airline has stated that the captain delayed takeoff and called airport security workers to ask the imams to leave the plane; the men refused, and that the captain then called police. The plane left without the imams on board about three hours later. The imams were arrested, questioned, and then released.
Boarding is the entry of passengers onto a vehicle, usually in public transportation. Boarding starts with entering the vehicle and ends with the seating of each passenger and closing the doors. The term is used in road, rail, water and air transport.
Airport check-in is the process whereby passengers are accepted by an airline at the airport prior to travel. The airlines typically use service counters found at airports. The check-in is normally handled by an airline itself or a handling agent working on behalf of an airline. Passengers usually hand over any baggage that they do not wish or are not allowed to carry in to the aircraft's cabin and receive a boarding pass before they can proceed to board their aircraft.
An airline ticket is a document or electronic record, issued by an airline or a travel agency, that confirms that an individual is entitled to a seat on a flight on an aircraft. The airline ticket may be one of two types: a paper ticket, which comprises coupons or vouchers; and an electronic ticket.
Airline reservation systems (ARS) are part of the so-called passenger service systems (PSS), which are applications supporting the direct contact with the passenger.
Starting in 1946, American Airlines developed a number of automated airline booking systems known as Reservisor. Although somewhat successful, American's unhappiness with the Reservisor systems led them to develop the computerized Sabre system used to this day.
MileagePlus is the loyalty program of United Airlines and Aeromar that offers rewards to passengers traveling on certain types of tickets. Following the 2011 merger agreement between United Airlines and Continental Airlines, United Mileage Plus was chosen to be the frequent flyer program for the combined airline. The program was subsequently renamed to MileagePlus, and maintains its relationship with its Star Alliance partners, as well as other airline and travel enterprise agreements.
The United Express Flight 3411 incident happened at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on April 9, 2017, when David Dao Duy Anh, a Vietnamese-American passenger, was injured while being forcibly removed from a fully boarded, sold out flight to Louisville International Airport. Dao, a pulmonologist and folk musician, refused to give up his seat when requested because he needed to see a patient the day after. Chicago Department of Aviation Security Officers were called to remove him from the plane; in the process, they struck Dao's face against an armrest, then pulled him, apparently unconscious, by his arms along the aircraft aisle past rows of onlooking passengers. Prior to the confrontation, managers offered travel vouchers to passengers to vacate their seats to make room for four deadheading airline employees who needed to travel to the destination, but none of the passengers accepted. The airline then selected four passengers for involuntary removal from the flight. Three other passengers agreed to leave the flight, and Dao was selected to be fourth. Republic Airline operated the scheduled passenger flight on behalf of United Express, a United Airlines regional branch.
Basic economy airfares are charged by a number of airlines for market segmentation. They typically replace standard economy class fares as the cheapest option for passengers and generally come with more restrictions compared to standard economy fares. Passengers traveling in basic economy are generally not allowed to change or cancel tickets or select seats for free.
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