Skycaps back, but business isn't

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 30, 2001

TAMPA -- Shoes buffed to a shine and shirts pressed, skycaps at US Airways and TWA stood ready for business at their curbside check-in stations Saturday at Tampa International Airport.

But there wasn't much business.

"People just aren't flying," said Tarence Kinsey, a skycap for more than 11 years.

So Kinsey and other skycaps, whose incomes rely mostly on tips, weren't waiting to be asked for help. When a car pulled over to the curb, a skycap would be there waiting before the first bag hit the sidewalk.

Kinsey picked up a big, heavy bag belonging to passenger Christy Muzzaloupo. He couldn't check the bag because she didn't have her ticket with her. So he carried it into the terminal and showed her which line to get into.

Muzzaloupo said she doesn't usually use skycaps. But this time, "I didn't have any choice. Somebody grabbed my bag," she said.

Only two airlines at TIA Saturday offered curbside check-in. Airlines must get FAA approval to resume the service, said Kenneth Johnson, TIA's assistant director of operations.

That means training skycaps on security measures such as questioning passengers and spotting potentially risky ones.

Rick DeLeo, on his way back to Chicago after four days of golfing at Saddlebrook Resort, lugged a big golf bag and a big, soft-sided carry-on bag while in line at Southwest Airlines. He would have been happy to use curbside service for the golf bag, if that airline had offered it.

But Johnson said the lack of curbside service has had little effect on passengers.

"Traffic is so low, it hasn't affected us so far," he said.

In the meantime, TIA skycaps have seen their earnings plunge by 80 percent or more, said Walter Burney, a supervisor for USE Inc., which provides skycaps for some of the airlines.

Skycaps earn $2.13 an hour, plus tips. Even when business is normal, people often fail to tip the skycaps enough, Kinsey said.

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