Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/18/spirit-airlines-gate-agent-freaks-out-on-waiting-passengers-video.html
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I’m not sure suspending the gate agents was the right move. The situation wasn’t one they created, and it looked like they got completely overwhelmed. There were people waiting to board two different flights in that gate area, and one flight was 8 hours late? I’m betting both of those agents had multiple customers asking them the same questions over and over and over again. I blame this on Spirit for not managing their process better to avoid that situation. Given that it’s Spirit, I’d also guess those two aren’t paid enough to put up with this shit.
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My sympathy is with the gate staff.
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I think it’s more a Burbank issue than a Spirit issue.
I flew out of BUR for the first time a couple months ago and had a multi-hour delay, and that terminal gets unusually tense. It’s a tiny structure that has barely been expanded from when it was built in 1930, even though there are quite a lot of flights flying out of the handful of gates. There are usually more passengers waiting around than there are chairs, so everyone is on top of each other. Spirit’s operation there is also particularly chaotic. The day I was there, Spirit had three separate flights leaving for Las Vegas within the span of an hour or two and they kept swapping gates, so LOTS of passengers were confused about where they should be.
And the whole thing seems designed to put people in a negative frame of mine–even the advertisements posted in the airport. When I was there, EVERY ad was for something terrible: divorce lawyers, cancer care, an Auschwitz exhibit, Guy Fieri…
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But yeah, that does sound awful.
And surprising. Isn’t Hollywood Burbank a pretty high average income place? You’d think people there would’ve demanded a better facility by now.
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Kind of sounds like the gate agent sympathized with the customers, unified everyone to join one team, and rallied them for a “Let’s get through this together. Yeah!” Looked like mock freakout for physical humor.
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i think there should be MORE of this, not less. people would be assholes less frequently on airlines if they agents could go off on people once in awhile.
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"Everyone’s gotta shut up — shut your pie-holes — and we’ll give you *free pie! Free! If you want free pie, then shut up! Otherwise — no pie!"
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Don’t really want to give traffic to a sensational channel like Inside Edition.
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I’ve flown a couple of times from Burbank Airport, the last being in 2017. No choice then as to airport (unfortunately) since that’s how our admin booked it both times. I greatly prefer LAX since it runs more smoothly and there’s a very convenient Flyaway Bus that does Van Nuys to LAX service on a regular 24/7 shuttle schedule to all terminals there. Now, as to the city of Burbank, the Flyaway is only about 15 minutes from there. Therefore, if I lived in Burbank, I’d go straight to the Flyaway (great parking and vast waiting area seating) for LAX flights and avoid Burbank Airport entirely. Actual Burbank denizens may use the same strategy.
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I found the actual video of what she said, if anyone’s interested 
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I have had issue after issue with gate agents these days, like that one who had all the Group D flyers gate check our carry-on’s because we were late boarding and there was certainly no room in the overhead compartments for our carry-ons, like it was our fault, and then when we finally boarded, the eight overhead compartments at the back of the plane were totally empty after all.
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Airline staff accurately communicating an issue.
Seems like better customer relations than letting everyone fret and fume until they start eating shirts.
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Don’t blame the gate agents. Blame the airline executives for putting staff in an unmanageable situation without enough support.
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Ah - that’s a bit different and (prob for obvious reasons) not what the posted video on the blog showed.
I hope you are kidding.
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Same here. Notice the lack of clips of the people behaving like assholes to these ladies. Let’s see that. These ladies didn’t reach a snapping point on their own.
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The video (from the TV) did not show someone using the f-word twice or more.
Pulp Fiction
I don’t blame them all the time, since the bad experienced I’ve had seemed to be the results of undertrained, underpaid, and micromanaged gate agents.
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