Flying American Airlines Observation

Observed flight 493 to MIA at gate 3 being worked by WFS agents Lima, Catherine, Monique, Janice, Indi and AA supervisor Donata. There are no Jet bridges in STT. Customers’ board the aircraft using the forward and aft doors via the airstairs. The observation began with the Welcome announcement which was correct. The ConciergeKey, Groups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 were made correctly. No Group 7 was made. Group 8 was correct. A final call was made for the flight. There were multiple agents making the announcements which may have caused Group 7 to be skipped. Agents did an excellent job pre-boarding customers in wheelchairs. Catherine used most of the elevate behaviors; greeting customers with a warm smile, listening and acknowledging their needs

Agents did not ask if they could be of further assistance at the end of the interaction. Indi’s role was to meet the flight on the tarmac. Agents were very good at only wearing their safety vest when they were on the ramp. Donata scanned boarding passes; later Janice scanned boarding passes from the main podium to expedite the boarding process. Donata did an excellent job greeting each customer with a smile and thanking them by either saying “thank you for flying American Airlines” or “have a nice day.” Did not see many smiles offered by Janice. Both agents did not address customers by name, sir or ma’am. Customers seated in the exit row were asked the required question. During Priority boarding several customers boarded with expanded overstuffed bags and the sizer was not used. As the boarding progressed agents were very compliant with the carry-on bag size and advised several customers to use the sizer. The number of carry-on bags was enforced. When bags were checked at the gate agents did not ask the spare battery/e-cigarette question. WFS agents were name bar compliant and looked professional wearing their company uniform. Donata was wearing civilian attire while working the flight; however, her outfit would not be defined as business