Agent info

mkMIA

Newbie
Oct 1, 2007
1
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Does anyone know if agents get to trade their hours and or days? Got an interview and the first interviewer had no idea.
 
Does anyone know if agents get to trade their hours and or days? Got an interview and the first interviewer had no idea.

Yep. Find an agent to CS with you. Will have to be someone who hasn't lost their CS priviledges. Ask your OC, they can tell you how if you aren't sure.
 
Shouldn't be a problem. Don't recall MIA's policy, but some stations only let you trade with people of equal quals, so you can probably give away your hours to someone else, but be realistic in your expectations -- if you're working gates, don't expect to be able to work for someone who is jetbridge qual'd if you're not trained on jetbridges or proficient enough to work a trip by yourself.

Some stations also limit the hours you can CS to work when you're still on probation, and others won't let a non-language speaker work for a language speaker if their shift specifically requires it.
 
I wasn't aware that AA did/could make language any type of requirement, because they certainly don't compensate anyone for language skills. There are a lot of agents who speak several languages but refuse to translate, or even tell the company they can, simply because AA doesn't provide any type of pay incentives for the skills. I know I certainly wouldn't do it, translations can get you in a lot of trouble if incorrect, especially where dialects come into play. At AA, all a customer would have to do is say the employee mis-translated what was said and the employee would be gone in a heartbeat.
 
They might not be paid more, but having built shift bids in the dark ages, it wasn't at all uncommon to have certain bid lines be restricted to language speakers, stair truck qualified agents, or seat control qualified agents. That also meant that someone relatively junior could wind up with a better shift than someone with a lot more seniority.

"Local policy will dictate" sometimes allows the company to play the "equal qualifications" card. Whether or not they choose to is another story. In MIA, I doubt they'd think twice about approving a CS between a non-Spanish speaker and a Spanish speaker. But they might think twice about their German, French, or Portugese speakers...

Some stations do the same thing with FSC's -- Crew Chiefs can work for a FSC, but unless they're D1 qual'd, they can't work for a CC. Others take the approach that a clerk is a clerk, regardless if he's a D1 or CC.