I did some travelling over the weekend that took me through several major airports, including Miami. Returning our rental car to the Miami airport was a positively complicated adventure, and getting through security was no picnic either. I’ve also driven to O’Hare, and it takes forever to park and get through security and to your gate there, too.
I’m sure there are special accomodations for people who work in the airport, but still it must be a pretty significant and hassle and time consuming process just to get to work. That said, why would someone choose to work in a large airport, particularly in fast food or other commodity type franchise establishments?
I’m not wondering why people work in fast food or chain restaurants – I know they do it because they need the money, and for a variety of other reasons. But why work at a McDonald’s that is past security in Councourse WW of some enormous structure, when one could probably just as easily get a job at the Burger King down the street from the airport and not deal with the hassle? Do airport locations pay more? Do employees get paid for the time it takes to make it from parking, through the complex, and through security? Surely this must add a good deal of time and even expense to their workdays.
I think that the fast-food workers at the airports do indeed make significanty more than their counterparts in “neighborhood” fast-food shops. I seem to recall some ads for McDonalds starting at around $9.50 as opposed to a typical McDonalds wage of what, $7.50?
Years ago, I knew a guy who worked at a Sbarros Pizza in Logan airport. He made slightly more than he would have at an independent location. He took the train to work, and he had some sort of airport id which saved him some of the hassle of security. Course, that was in the days before airport security was so extreme, so it may be different now
Security is a non-issue for people that work there.
More than just an airport employee ID, they have their own security checkpoint so they don’t have to wait in a long line. In various airports that I’ve seen them, they tend to be off in some corner of baggage claim and/or near wherever the local mass transit drops people off.
Like all low level jobs, people apply out of raw ignorance. They usually aren’t clear about the pay until they are actually hired, and even then warned not to discuss it, which of course lasts until the first break.
I think one other advantage would be safety and the type of customers. If you don’t like the homeless person or pack of teen customer demographic, an airport job would be a better gig. And possibly the hours, since some airport locations seem to close much earlier than regular fast-food locations. Also, some people do live close to the airport, making the commute less of a factor.
Yeah, I think airport employees that work in the secure areas have their own security checkpoints. Certainly at the Toronto airport, they have their own car part, parking shuttles, bus stops, peoplemover station, etc, etc…
Since the food prices are double, I would think the employees should see a bit more pay- unless the location fee for an airport is exboritant or something.
Heh, once I applied for a position at a restaurant which was just opening, and I asked (at the end of the interview), “by the way, what is the pay?” and the manager said “Hold on, let me check. Nobody has asked that yet”. (it was minimum wage)
Thanks for the replies. I have always found large airports to be fascinating places. So much movement, so many transient people and objects just passing through. Even bad examples (in the US) are really amazing from a logistical perspective. It seems that the airport employees (and only some of them) are the only static parts of the operation – the people who remain there while others come and go endlessly.
A little off my own track, I guess, but just an observation.