jetcareers - View Single Post - How bout flying commercial with an infant?

kellwolf · August 7th, 2005, 12:29

There's three kinds of rampers: the ones that love aviation and being around airplanes, the ones that are there for the flight benefits and the ones that are there for the paycheck. I've worked with all three, and by FAR the easiest to work with are, of course, the first scenario. Flights go out on time, there's no arguement on how to load the plane and everyone does their fair share. The day goes by quickly, and you've got that feeling of satisfaction from having done your job well at the end of the day, even if you are a bit tired.

The second group is okay, b/c deep down inside, they know if the company starts losing money due to delayed flights, lost bags, etc, they might cut some flights here and there, killing a vacation plan or two. The last group is probably the worst to work with. They really don't care what happens to the company since they'll just get another job somewhere else.

SWA's station in MCO was BUSY, especially during the summer. Sometimes, we were so short staffed, we'd fly in rampers from BWI or STL to help cover shifts. Overtime? Plenty if you could hold your body together long enough to work it. Most of the guys I worked with were the type that checked the company stock price on a daily basis and yelled at you if you left off a piece of mail b/c it hurts their profit sharing. Yeah, they might be looking out for number one in the long run, but success of the company was in their best interest, and they knew it. Heck, I knew I wasn't going to be there 5 years when I got hired, and I quickly fell into that group.

As far as not hooking up the GPU or the a/c, that's just straight up lazy. It takes 30 seconds MAX to hook both up. Less if you've got two people doing it. We did it for every flight at SWA so the pilots could shut down the APU at the gate and keep from burning too much Jet A.

August 7th, 2005, 12:29	#18
kellwolf Old Skool Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 13,229	Re: How bout flying commercial with an infant? There's three kinds of rampers: the ones that love aviation and being around airplanes, the ones that are there for the flight benefits and the ones that are there for the paycheck. I've worked with all three, and by FAR the easiest to work with are, of course, the first scenario. Flights go out on time, there's no arguement on how to load the plane and everyone does their fair share. The day goes by quickly, and you've got that feeling of satisfaction from having done your job well at the end of the day, even if you are a bit tired. The second group is okay, b/c deep down inside, they know if the company starts losing money due to delayed flights, lost bags, etc, they might cut some flights here and there, killing a vacation plan or two. The last group is probably the worst to work with. They really don't care what happens to the company since they'll just get another job somewhere else. SWA's station in MCO was BUSY, especially during the summer. Sometimes, we were so short staffed, we'd fly in rampers from BWI or STL to help cover shifts. Overtime? Plenty if you could hold your body together long enough to work it. Most of the guys I worked with were the type that checked the company stock price on a daily basis and yelled at you if you left off a piece of mail b/c it hurts their profit sharing. Yeah, they might be looking out for number one in the long run, but success of the company was in their best interest, and they knew it. Heck, I knew I wasn't going to be there 5 years when I got hired, and I quickly fell into that group. As far as not hooking up the GPU or the a/c, that's just straight up lazy. It takes 30 seconds MAX to hook both up. Less if you've got two people doing it. We did it for every flight at SWA so the pilots could shut down the APU at the gate and keep from burning too much Jet A.