“Captain” Bob Olson pushed an elderly man’s wheelchair from the plane to DIA’s Concourse C, stopping to consult with him about a connecting flight.
It is a service that Olson and 150 other green-shirted Frontier Airlines Scouts will cheerfully provide again and again during the heavy holiday travel period.
“This is such a great job,” said Olson, a retired Aurora firefighter. “I’m grateful that I’ve helped somebody.”
Frontier Scouts help elderly and disabled customers, unaccompanied minors and others needing assistance in their travels. Frontier is the only airline that uses its own employees to provide the services; other airlines contract them out.
Scout stands for “smiling, compassionate, outgoing and tolerant,” said Judy Guyre, supervisor of the 8-year- old program.
A dispatcher in the Concourse A tower uses a radio system to send the Scouts around Denver International Airport.
Their mission: to help passengers check pets at cargo, to whisk wheelchairs from ticketing through security and to glide those daunted by DIA’s long concourses to their gates in electric carts.
Scouts also stay with unaccompanied minors until they board, which can mean hanging out in a lounge set up just for them.
“We consider them ambassadors of the airline since they are the first contact many travelers with special needs have with Frontier,” Guyre said of the Scouts.
Scouts must work 13 hours per week once they’ve completed three days of training on topics such as the proper way to lift someone out of a wheelchair.
Competition for the Denver-based jobs is keen. A few months ago, 256 people applied for one opening, Guyre said. It can’t be the money that attracts that kind of attention. The Scouts make $7.10 an hour — plus flight benefits.
“This is the best gig in town,” said Gary Graham, a retired Denver police officer who has been a Scout for seven years. “I get a police pension, I work 13 hours a week, and then I can fly the rest of the time.”
All have had full careers before signing on as Scouts, Guyre said, including educators and retired police officers such as Graham and former firefighters such as Olson.
“I like people, and the people here are great,” said Carol Stall, a former Littleton Public Schools secretary who has been a Scout for 3 1/2 years.
“You get to help people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to fly,” said Mike Summers, a retired St. Vrain assistant principal. “It’s all about helping people.”
Bill Gray of Portland said he and his companion appreciate the Scouts. “They’re one of the reasons we fly Frontier,” Gray said. “For handicapped people, it’s dynamite.”
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
