The Importance of Cabin Crew and Flight Attendants in Airline Operations

A commercial airport may be owned and run by a city, county or state. In some in instances a commercial airport is operated by a separate public body, such as an airport authority specifically for the purpose of managing the airport. Regardless of ownership day to day operations and administration can be vested in several ways which include; A state government or federal government and an airport authority, municipal government and a multipurpose port authority. More than half of the large and medium scale and a greater percent of small commercial airports are operated by a municipal or county governments.

The different departments of an airline must work together in order to be successful with great customer experience and to make their expected revenue. A part from customers and revenue these departments must work together to keep the airline an airport intact and properly functional. I they do not work together to play their part and do their duties in time or correctly not only will the airline be unsuccessful but also the airport, customers will be lost and other business partners such as car rental agencies will suffer. The airline industry mainly depends and functions off the team work of functional departments. Sales and marketing department is responsible for the pricing of tickets, cargo sales and food service for customers. Flight attendants and cabin crew members work together with the pilot to make announcements on behalf of the pilot. The operations department is responsible for scheduling aircraft and flight crew. The maintenance department checks to see if planes are intact (K. Bonsor).

Airlines have a business to business relationship with other airlines. Grouping of loyalty program, codeshare and interlining. Interlining is the voluntary commercial agreement to handle passengers travelling a multiple leg flight on those two airlines. This agreement allows passengers from one flight operated by the first airline to a flight operated by the other. The cooperation between two airlines can go further with codesharing. This is an agreement in which two or more airlines share the same flight. The marketing airline has the ability to sell seats offered by the operating airline under its own identification number. The grouping of loyalty program may relate to the airline's loyalty. They receive lounge access which allows travelers to accumulate the loyalty points and access the same benefits while travelling with another airline.

Services that are provided directly from the airline to a customer may include free WIFI, printing rooms restaurants, quiet office spaces. These amenities will be appreciated and mostly used by business travelers. Services such as a play area for children, gyms and yoga rooms will be appreciated and used by leisure travelers as they have more time.A commercial functional department of airline operations is Customer Service and Reservations. The main roles and responsibility of a customer service and reservation agent is to assist with the booking and travel arrangements of consumers such as car rental, cruise cabin and/or airline tickets. Reserving and receiving payment to book hotel rooms and assisting customers to choose from the variety of travel options. In addition to booking a customer agent might also provide customer services to those customers who have already made plans and done necessary bookings or take on sales roles (Petersen 2018).

An operational function department is the Cabin Crew. Once they have received approval from the captain, they proceed to board passengers onto the airplane. Before boarding any flight, passengers are greeted with a warm smile from the members of a cabin crew and receive amenity kit, candies, scented napkin and newspapers. They first check the communication platforms to ensure it is properly functioning. They are responsible for checking the doors, cabin equipment, galley and the alarm system just in case of a fire. They ensure all safety equipment are in their places, life vests, oxygen tubes smoke mask, seatbelts for children and safety instruction card etcetera. Then they start their security checking process, which they check all spaces in the airplane where any person can have access (seat pockets and toilets). Any object that doesn’t need to be on the plane must be found and removed and taken by the security team of the airport. They are also responsible for the catering to of passengers. They have to check for special foods for children, diabetics, lactose and passengers with gluten intolerance. A video is presented on how to use safety equipment in case of emergency. As soon as all passengers have boarded and are comfortably seated, and securities have been done cabin manager will make an announcement for takeoff. When the plane has successfully landed at its destination there will also be an announcement and cabin crew will be readily available to give information regarding the airport, connections and terminals. Lastly as soon as the last passenger has un boarded the plane the crew will check all spaces again to ensure there is no damages or anything left behind (A. Dumitrescu n.d.).

The passenger handling department is responsible for handling checking in of passengers, checking their passports, tickets or gate counter. They provide luggage label and check passengers baggage according to airline specifications to ensure the luggage does not exceed a certain size or weight. A passenger handling agent is also responsible for coordinating the boarding of passengers as well as deplaning. As a part of their main duties they communicate as a central hub, greeting passengers and providing any information in regard to the airline or the flight. The passenger service assistance is responsible for security related duties such as asking passengers security questions most likely about their luggage (A. Windermere 2018).

There is no airport or air carrier that can function properly without a ground staff. They play a very vital role and cannot be replaced by computer or machines. Ground handlers are responsible for the loading and onloading of baggage and freight unto the airplane. They are required to work under time pressure but also have to handle baggage with care. They use equipment's such as forklifts, conveyor belts and freight delivery vehicles to help them load these items. Ground handlers are also responsible to ensure that customers board the plane ramp carefully and cautiously. They also sort baggage and freight and must identify the ultimate destination of baggage and transfer them correctly to the proper location. They are the ones who add fuel to the plane. Some ground handlers are required to make minor mechanical or electrical repairs to aircraft and fill out paper work associated with their cargo (M. Wolfe 2018)