Page 8 -The Michigan Daily-Friday, February 19, 1988
The
View
From
The
round
... The yellow zone is for North-
west and the blue zone is for Delta
and you can't unload here, sir; no,
more than three bags, ma'am; and
,te flight's at the end of the con-
course and it leaves in five min-
utes...
We are at the airport. And invari-
ably we are here because we have
someplace else to go.
Perhaps that's why - even as we
stand outside and take our luggage
from the car - an airport-induced
excitement fills us with a certain
misery and magic. We feel the
crowds whirl around us like huge re-
volving doors. We inhale an acrid
combination of cigarette smoke and
diesel fuel and synthetic snack-bar
iaeho cheese. We feel the airplanes
tremble, hear them whine, beneath
our feet and above our heads.
Yet we are travellers, and have
only come to the airport to leave it.
We lift off, and in our view from the
sky the airport grows smaller and
smaller, and though we know it's
still there, it soon leaves our minds.
... Flight 123 will arrive from
Newark in one hour and departs for
D.C. in two hours and leaves for
Miami in. three hours but it hasn't
left Newark yet so please add four
hours to each...
From the sky above Detroit
Metro Airport, people are like ants.
But in the view from the ground,
they are life-size and angry, rushed,
hostile, irate, neurotic, amused,
bored, bewildered, tired, and frantic.
The view from the ground comes
from the airport's employees, who
have arrived at the airport td stay,
not to leave. This is a look at the
people who are grounded - not be-
cause of weather or delays - but
merely to be ready when we are.
THE AIRPORT this day is as
hectic and hot as Disneyland but
with twice the number of rides. The
skycap in front of the Northwest
terminal won't give his name. He
sends pieces of luggage across the
world and tries to ignore their own-
ers. "They are what make the job
fascinating at first and then what ul-
timately make it miserable," he
says. "They're always upset and hard
to deal with. We tell them they can
have three bags. Three bags! But out
here they try to bribe you, offering
more money for their extra bags.
And the same rotten passengers with
the extra luggage every week! What
can you do?"
"The phrase we live by is
'passenger service.' But 10, 12 bags?
It really grits me. The airport was
interesting at first, yeah. But not
anymore. When you're here everyday
that'll happen."
There is a sign on a wall behind
him. "We love to fly and it shows,"
it says.
..Flight 123 has arrived from
Newark but can't land. Flight 231
from St. Louis expected at gate 2E
has arrived at gate 38F...
A WOMAN named Candi is
giving life sustenance to world trav-
ellers in the form of pizza rolls and
"Fresh Bakd" Danishes. The path of
her eyes across the counter follows
the lumbering taxi of a TWA 747.
Candi says she'd rather be selling
hot dogs in the airport than any-
where else; where else can you sell a
pop tart to someone from France or
Germany? she asks. The day is
stormy - maintenance crews are de-
icing the 747. And Candi calls her
supervisor."I'm worried the coffee is
low," she says. "We need more large
tops."
"Yeah, I see the jets; I wish I was
on them - who wouldn't?" she
says. "But, then who would do my
job here?"
SECURITY SUPERVISOR
Alleen Walker watches the monitor
as the travellers lay their bags on the
conveyor. She says after 18 years
she's not sure what she's looking
for. Or why she's looking. Without
being asked she tells how awful it
was to work the night Flight 255
crashed but she changes the subject
as quickly.
"There's really nothing I like
about this job anymore," she says.
"It's the attitude of the passengers
that ruined it for me. They get mad
because we look in their bags -
well, can I help it if they carry too
much metal in their pockets?"
Somewhere a voice is singing on
a loudspeaker. "Doing what we do
best," it says.
AT METRO's "Paradies"
shop, Betty Bradley sells mostly t-
shirts and cups to last minute gift-
seekers. "You often sit here and stare
at the planes and wonder where they
are going," she says. "It's good
working here. You get to talk to
people from all over the world, so
it's like the world really is going on
around you. But things have
changed. 10 years ago it was all
businessmen. Now its their families.
And I think, how can they afford all
those tickets for their kids?"
JOYCE MORGAN calls her-
self an airport "cleaner." She has
never been on an airplane.
"Everytime I see a flight I do
wish it was me on it," she says.
"But I don't mind being inside here.
The pilots are real nice. And half the
stewardesses. The other half have
their noses in the air. And I like all
the people, the different personalities
and nationalities. But then they get
on the plane, and I wonder if they're
going to make it."
..Flight 123 from Newark has
returned to Newark... stranded trav-
ellers please report to the white
courtesy phones...
ANDREW ("I'm just a bar-
tender") Stalworth, Jr. rattles off a
list of the celebrities he's encoun-
tered on the job: "Diana Ross, Don
Rickles, Bob Hope, some soap stars,
'Ready for the World,' and Miss
America 1984.".
"You meet a lot of famous people
in this job; I like that," he says. "I
may spend my time in the airport,
but they come here. Anyway, I like
the airport better than a restaurant
because here they move you around
to different bars, so you get a change
of pace, a change of scenery., You
can always get engrossed in a good
conversation here, but the people are
always in a bad mood. Especially the
people who fly Northwest. They call
them frequent fliers. But I call them
frightened fliers."
WHEN THEY come to his
central information booth, says
Mike Payne, "the people don't
think. They ask the most stupid
questions. They get mad when their
flights are cancelled because of bad
weather. But the worst - and this
really bugs me - is when people
yell at me for Northwest. They tell
me Northwest stinks. Believe me, I
could tell you everything that's
wrong with that airline," he says.
Northwest employees wear but-
tons at the airport. "The world is
going our way," they read.
THE WAY of Northwest flight
supervisor Larry Hopkins - who
started as a tarmac mechanic 20 years
ago - is to earn his wings every
day with a generous dose of ground-
view-passenger-service-idealism.
"10 years ago, if you said you
worked for an airline it would be a
very prestigious thing. But not
anymore. Yet, it takes a special per-
son to work in the airport and do it
right. Handle the crowds. Make the
people feel good before they leave,"
Hopkins says.
. "Part of the problem are the
passengers, sure. They've gotten
more like Greyhound Bus people.
Not very high class anymore. But
my fascination with airports hasn't
worn off. The thought of getting on
a plane and 13 hours later being in
another country is still amazing.
You see one of those monsters sit-
ting here on the tarmac, n'ot movingi
and then just like a bird they're in
the air., It's beautiful. It's still beau-
tiful."
Even when the people aren't as
friendly as the skies.
...Flight 234 has been cancelled.
Flight 331 has been delayed. Flight
461 has...
Photos by John Munson
Story by Lisa Pollak
U