fueler

baggage handler

ground support equipment mechanic

passenger service agent

cargo handler

Menzies Aviation

Ramp Service in general has the potential to be a good career for anyone interested in Ramp Operations. However, there are many contract companies in the business that are lucrative because Mainline Companies opt out of paying there own operating cost to contract ground handling companies for a lower price. These contract companies that I know of are as follows; Menzies Aviation, G2 Secure Staff, and Worldwide Flight Services (WFS). There are plenty of more out there. The Company I worked for at ICT was Menzies Aviation. If you are an aviation enthusiast like me, the job itself is incredible. But the compensation and benefits are a different story. Earlier I mention Menzies Aviation is contracted for lower operating cost. That means your employment, pay, and benefits are suppressed in order to limit operation cost while salary management or Menzies pocket bonuses and incentives Issued by United Airlines. In other words, your pay is trash; even their equipment is poorly maintained. I affirmatively urge anyone looking to start ramp service to direct you efforts to actual Mainline Companies. Mainline Companies are direct airline carriers and there subsidiaries such as United Airlines; United Ground Express, American Airlines; Envoy Air. There are plenty of options to choose from. If you need ramp experience or just simply have no choice, this is my review on my time at Menzies Aviation: Wichita Kansas. You will receive $10 an hour with no raises unless promoted to another position. Your growth is minimal. Furthermore, each stage is dependent on people resigning. The higher the position, the more pay there is. But, obviously the higher the pay, the less people resign. Relative to Ramp Service Agents, the Ramp has 2 levels of hourly management; Ramp leads or Operation Agents ($13) or Ramp Supervisors and Station Trainers ($19). If any applicants are looking at ICT just be warned that management and peers will do anything possible to look out for themselves. If management  just so happens to have their differences with you, start looking for another job because employment here is not secure. If they don’t like the way you work, look, smell, etc. they will ensure you that Kansas is an at will employment state and that you can be fired for any reason. All it takes is the word from someone else to get you fired, demoted, or written up. A word of advise is to keep your head down and do the work. As long as you can be proactive and self driven; job security should not be a problem. While employed at this location, this does not have to be the end of the road. Continue looking for better opportunities. There were several people who got hire on with the Mainline companies I mentioned starting here. However the case is; everything is an experience for us all to learn from. Good Luck to all of you on your journeys.

The work itself is fun. Having the responsibility of marshalling and handling several aircraft a day holding 100+ people and the day goes by fast. It's a fast paced environment and the people you work with also do their best no matter the situation.

Unfortunately those are the only good things about the place. 
-Horribly understaffed (Started with 40 agents, lucky to have 10 in an entire day now) and expected to pick up the slack for no extra pay or motivation to do so. 
-Communication is nonexistent here. Something you do one week could get you written up the next and you have no idea about the change until they punish you for it. Management has meetings every week, only allow leads and supervisors to attend and somehow expects everyone else to know whats new even though they can't attend.
-Work morale has been killed here since Menzies showed up. Every time something goes wrong, management tries to throw an agent under the bus, write them up and call it a day instead of trying to fix the problem. They even try to overcomplicate the simplest of tasks in our work, which in turn takes the fun out of it that keeps us going.
-Only had 2 uniforms for first 3-4 months of work when working 5 day weeks. Only get max of 4, which still doesn't last a week.
-Pay is consistently wrong. One of our agents was missing an entire 2 weeks worth of pay and another was missing over 20 hours of overtime in a single period even though it was all handwritten and turned in directly to management. 
-No attempt to keep people. Met some of the best workers ever here and nearly every one of them left since they saw no future here, had no opportunity to move forward, was being treated badly, etc. At times supervisors just say that they'll always get more people, but none of them stay either since they quickly (and thankfully for them) see the sinking ship.

TLDR; Menzies Management and Melbourne Airport have failed its employees by creating an unstable workplace and in turn, failed all of its passengers as delays will start piling up once the current employees see that it's no longer worth taking care of this sinking ship.

Advice to airport: Please take away the contract from Menzies and give it to literally anyone else (ie: Swissport, DGS, etc.), At least they know what they're doing in other airports and may be able to turn it around.

Work-life balance
Work-life balance at Menzies Aviation was always a new day. You never know what kind of day you're going to have. When you have a great crew and you can run like clockwork our work will stand for itself!

Pay & benefits
My pay and benefits at Menzies Aviation very appreciative! But the benefits concerning for insurance was not at all appealing even after getting into higher management

Job security and advancement
In terms of job security at Menzies Aviation, I think everyone with the exception of few gave me a good sense of security.

Management
In general, managers at Menzies Aviation we're polite courteous and tentative to circumstances. I've only encountered two bad incidences where people in the same position as I decided cursing towards me was a great idea.

Culture
Collaboration with my colleagues at Menzies Aviation was amazing as a ramp agent and as I had climbed up the ladder into management I had repetitive nature in doing my daily duties due to the fact that I could not proceed to continue going further if I was not going to be able to work with others in order to be signed off and able to continue my work without having my training room manager understand people were not working with me and was left in my own position to work that out. I found out hard to deal with but with benefit of the doubt it was during an audit season and everyone had multiple things they had to accomplish. Not to tarnish anyone, but I definitely could have been trained very simply and easily and was ignored in this area which made me want to resign.

Overall
My experience working at Menzies Aviation I loved every day working at an airport. My mission was to get as much training as possible and try to accomplish getting into a higher position and or a private airport to continue proficiency transparency and much better benefits!

I start the day by hearing different reports from different people about the same event, then I'm misdirected by my supervisor because he was given the wrong information. I've learned that it takes an extra 30 minutes and several texts or phone calls to our customers, forgoing the information we should have received from supervisors, to get an accurate directive. The people within your immediate support group are amazing for the most part. Shift management and other supervisory staff always have great ideas and good intentions but they don't communicate their ideas or intentions with anyone so it's hard to work as a team because they all generally have a different idea of what needs to be done (Or they silently disagree and do what they want anyway).  The hardest part of the job is the hurry up and wait for supervisors to agree on what's actually going on and decide who's going to do what everytime there's a hiccup that could have been avoided if they'd just communicate with each other. The most enjoyable part of the job is actually doing the work you're there to do. The job is easy, finding yourself in a prepared state with the information you need to effectively do your job is a different story all together. This lack of communication at Menzies is systemic, it blows my mind. I swear they do it on purpose because each shift believes the next shift has it too easy. This kind of behavior is acceptable at Menzies because at Menzies, it's seniority before professionalism. *I will say that I've seen improvement in recent weeks, but it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working for this company is the pay.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part about working for this company is dealing with the management and the higher ups who do not listen nor do they resolve conflicts and issues in the appropriate fashion.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is, of course, outside surrounded by aircraft and small vehicles utilized to perform work operations. Safety is a higher priority but not the highest and the well-being of the employee is not always first, as we have seen with the recent threats of termination if employees could not come in during inclement weather (which resulted in mass quitting). The culture is rampant that of gossip, which is terminable, yet no one is reprimanded or even so much as a slap on the wrist for it. There is no confidentiality in private or personal matters with the management and among colleagues across the board. Fraternizing is commonplace and unchecked. The best solution is to say nothing at all and do your job. Very few of the superiors are inclusive and actually care about everyone's well-being, attempting to ensure everyone is treated with respect.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day involves getting to work and immediate going to your zone. That may include being thrown in to working a flight that leaves in under forty minutes from your arrival to work. That said, there are also very slow times and a good bit of down time to finish the tasks that need to be done apart from aircraft service.

Job work/life balance was easy enough. Most of the time we were out early, you have to stay for a plane if it's delayed but they wouldn't force you.

Compensation/benefits were laughable. Could not afford to take the benefits because then my paycheck would have been even more ridiculous.

Job security/advancement was decent as far as I could tell. Company has a pretty high turnover rate which meant that a lot of people stretch the rules (call off, no call no show) and they still have jobs. As far as advancement goes, no one really wants to deal with being a ''supervisor'' in the company even though the supervisors try and alleviate themselves of as much real work as possible so I don't see why not.

Management was basically non-existent. It's definitely a hands off job but there were a couple of situations that I personally got into that caused a lot of trouble due to poor management.

Job culture is terrible. The people that I worked with were fun to be around, good team players but the environment that you work in is terrible. The break rooms are filthy (people don't care about them because they come in and they aren't cleaned so it just snowballs). one of the break rooms has a cage in it to section off a small part of the room because ''Menzie's didn't want to pay for the whole room''

Overall it was a good experience. The managers/supervisors are lazy to a fault but if you can get over that and need a launch pad in order to transition to another job, I'd recommend.

This job has been by far the most stressful workplace ever for me.
Everyday is different as the Passengers are. 

This workplace and its duties really taught me to be patient with people and to always keep humble. 

Management here was very Professional and precise. Employee meeting were held every day before our shift started and at the end of it. Since we were dealing with flights, delays can happen. 

My Coworkers here were different from any other work place. We did not talk too much since we were all very busy most of the shift. However, if any of us needed help, someone would come to help out. For the most part, everyone was in their own lane since it was a fast paced work place. 

The hardest part of this job was when the Airline had delays or Passengers wanted to check in more baggage than approved. Passengers would get upset, enraged, and emotional. Since we had Security on site I told myself that wouldn't be a big problem. I did however find it hard at first having to deal with the emotional but as time went by and it happened more often I learned to not let it get to be because they should know better and read the terms and conditions upon purchasing their ticket.

The most enjoyable part of this job to me was at the end of the shift when all Agents would gather for our daily meeting. I loved it when our Supervisor would tell us what a great job we did. Out of any job I've held this one has been the most stressful, yet rewarding job. It disciplined and structured me into stepping into a hectic fast paced environment.



Working at Menzies has been a challenging experience with several significant drawbacks. The workload is heavy, making it difficult to maintain a good work-life balance. Long hours and overtime are frequently expected. The pay is not competitive, especially considering the demanding nature of the work, and many employees feel they are not adequately compensated for their responsibilities. Management issues are persistent, with many employees feeling that leadership is ineffective and lacks clear direction and support from supervisors. Frequent layoffs and job cuts create a sense of insecurity, adding to the stress and negatively impacting morale.

The work culture can be toxic, with a high level of stress and pressure, and the environment is often described as negative and demoralizing. Benefits are minimal and do not adequately support employees, with health benefits and other perks lacking compared to other companies in the industry. Opportunities for career growth and advancement are limited, leaving many employees feeling stuck in their roles with little room for professional development. Overall, the experience at Menzies has been largely negative, with significant issues in work-life balance, compensation, management, job security, work environment, and benefits. Improvements in these areas are necessary to create a more positive and supportive workplace.
Also they lost most of not all the contracts 

I have worked in both Terminal Fueling and American Maintenance Base Fueling, so I'll give you each side's experience for me.

Terminal Fueling is a rather set schedule for your days.  You either start at 4 AM or Noon and get off at 12:30 PM or 8:30-9:15 PM, respectively.  There are three main airlines at the Terminal, with a fourth and rarely a fifth airline added.  The easiest of all airlines to fuel is United, as they have the fewest flights in and out of Tulsa International, which means they get to fuel the fourth and sometimes fifth airlines that come in occasionally.  The second easiest airline to fuel to me is Southwest Airlines, as they only fly one type of airplane in here, so it's a repetitive job there, but it's spaced out.  The hardest airline to me, but also the one I like the most because it lets me workout and move a lot is American Airlines.  They have the most flights in and out of Tulsa which means the most number of times you need to get out and hook up your fuel truck to the planes.  It's a great workout.

American Maintenance Base Fueling is about 80% sitting on your butt, watching a TV show, reading a book, or whatever you do to spend time, and 20% fueling as you are essentially "on-call" the entire time.  Maintenance Base Shifts are 6 AM to 2:30 PM for 1st Shift, 2 PM to 10:30 PM for 2nd Shift, and 10 PM to 6:30 AM for Overnights/3rd Shift.

Menzies over all is a horrible company. The fueling was easy and fun, but your pay in Orlando is 11.50 you get one raise to 12.00 and than you top out with that until they  negotiate  a contract  which will never happen at all. The older people been there for 20 years and only making 14 bucks. Your check with 80hrs every two weeks be 790 or 780 each paycheck. You will literally have to work at least 4 doubles to make a thousand dollar check. The Supervisor and leads do whatever they want, communication is bad. Supervisors leave early or go home for 5hrs and clock out while the lead is the only one on the field helping the fuelers. No matter what if you tell the fueling manager that the Supervisor is treating unfairly he doesn't care.Btw his name is John  and all he does is sit in the office. He is never on the field to see what's going on. Fueling equipment is very bad trucks got fuel vapor coming through the vents and on 3 trucks the transmission are bad but they still make us drive them knowing that it is unsafe. Benefits are horrible also this job is only worth it if you want to get experienced other than that dont come to menzies at all it's a waste of time. I would never come back to this company. They already in the process of losing stations all over Florida and it is a matter of time before they lose Orlando.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Fueler 41 salaries reported	$20.65 per hour
Baggage handler 9 salaries reported	$18.69 per hour
Ground support equipment mechanic 1 salary reported	$24.00 per hour
Passenger service agent 3 salaries reported	$19.08 per hour
Cargo handler 3 salaries reported	$18.91 per hour

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