Runway success!

LEN TOWLAND, 61, helped to build Leeds Bradford Airport. Starting work in May 1968, he worked on the foundations for the main runway, then on the original terminal building. Now a supervisory baggage handler, Len lives a stone's throw from the airport, so he will still be able to keep an eye on things when he hangs up his fluorescent jacket to retire in July.

"In this business things don't always go according to plan and the TV series is realistic. We've had some unusual incidents - once we were unloading the plane and kept hearing laughter in among the cases. We hadn't a clue what it was and had to find the source. It turned out to be one of those joke laughing bags which was set off every time something was put on top of it.

"Radios come on quite a lot and sometimes luggage spills out because cases are not secured properly - people try to pack in everything but the kitchen sink. You see a lot of underwear so you can't be embarrassed in this job. Once a really heavy case fell open and it was full of rocks, all labelled and numbered. It must have belonged to a geologist. Then we had one couple who brought eight suitcases for their holiday, each one bulging at the seams. And the number of people who lock their cases then leave the keys in the lock amazes me.

"There's never a dull moment - we once had a woman whose false leg fell off when she was getting off the plane. We had to get a wheelchair for her pretty quickly!

"We have our fair share of unusual passengers. I had a call to pick up an animal for quarantine. I went to collect it, thinking it would be a dog - only to find it was a duck. It belonged to a magician. Then there was a cat box wrapped in brown paper with holes cut out for air. Two baby chimps were peering through. And a specially-adapted plane once came to pick up a dolphin.

"It is really busy - people who don't know it think it's a little tin-pot airport, but in summer we have up to 60 planes a day coming and going. Sometimes luggage gets lost - but the airlines can normally trace it - it's not our job. When people see us at work, they think it's simply a case of chucking suitcases on to a plane, but it's all got to be done to a set formula - the weight of the cases has to be evenly distributed, like cars and lorries on a ferry. They are loaded very carefully in different sections according to weight - that's why your suitcases don't always come out on the baggage carousel together.

"We don't get many major alerts where we have to take the bags off - we have a thorough screening procedure, if anything passes through which can't be identified it is individually checked.

"I've seen lots of celebrities and met some really big stars - Cary Grant, Julie Andrews, Charlton Heston and loads of top politicians and actors. The hardest thing about the job is the lifting - thankfully my back has held out all these years, many people haven't been so lucky.

"There's a great atmosphere, we usually all get on well. I'll miss it when I retire."

ANDREA TAYLOR, Customer Services Duty Officer, has worked on the information desk for 14 years. Andrea, 38, lives with her fiance - who also works at the airport - in Eccleshill. Her desk is the first port of call for irate passengers, and they are faced with some weird and wonderful situations.

Working on the customer service desk you really do see it all.

People see the information sign so they come to you with all kinds of problems expecting you to sort them out straight away.

Some things still amaze me even now.

We once had a couple who checked in but realised they had left their baby at home.

The husband thought his wife had put the baby in the car and she thought he had.

Meanwhile the poor baby was sat in his car seat in the living room.

Obviously they were very distraught and they rushed home straight away and the baby was fine.

They only lived locally so luckily they still made their flight.

We always get people who turn up on the wrong day for their flight or turn up here when they're supposed to be at another airport hundreds of miles away.

Passengers often turn up without a passport thinking they can get on a flight or get to the airport and discover their passport has run out months ago.

We do our best to help but often it's a matter for the individual airlines.

We do get some strange requests such as a woman who bred tortoises and wanted to take them on a flight to Scotland with her.

She was worried that if they were kept in the luggage compartment they would explode during the flight.

She kept writing to us asking if she could keep them on her knee in the plane.

In the end we put a sign on the desk saying tortoise helpline as a joke.

We also get to deal with lots of strange items of lost property including a false leg and false teeth. Customer services officer means that you're in charge of the smooth running of the passenger terminal.

People often get very stressed at airports, they're wanting to get to their destination as quickly as possible, they've been rushing round packing and often they've been arguing in the car well before they get to the airport.

After all these years I never get upset by people and I just try and calm them down.

I think programmes like Airline are a good thing as they make passengers appreciate what goes on behind the scenes.

You get all kinds of people in airports and they really are fascinating places.

I do enjoy meeting customers and helping them out.

One lady wrote to me and said that she'd booked a holiday abroad but her ten-year-old daughter was terrified of flying. I don't normally deal with that kind of thing but I felt so sorry for her and I invited the little girl to the airport and gave her a guided tour.

By the time she'd been round the airport and in the plane she was really looking forward to the flight and she wrote me a lovely letter after her holiday.

It makes it all worthwhile when you realise you've really made a difference to someone's life.

JACQUI DIXON, has worked at the airport for six years, the last three as customer services assistant.

"It's a great job and you meet lots of people, it's very friendly - a really lively atmosphere. No day is the same and no two passengers are the same.

This job gives you a great insight into people and their personalities - you have got to be good at body language, and be able to adapt to any person or situation. People get very wound up, it could be due to a number of things - flight delays, cancellations - people are in unfamiliar territory. As long as you give them some information - it is lack of information that upsets people .

Some people do lose their temper and shout - you have to keep your cool and accept that it is part of the job. The TV series is realistic - you take the rough with the smooth, but overall it's great, it doesn't feel like work - for much of the year you get caught up in the holiday atmosphere. We get a lot of celebrities passing through - we keep an autograph book in the office and have quite a collection, including Tony Blair, John Major, Liam and Noel Gallagher, Frank Bruno, Linford Christie, Loyd Grossman, Terry Wogan and of course, the Leeds United team.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.