Keeping Frazzled Fliers Grounded

In a few dizzying hours each week, 76-year-old Ann Freeman tracks late flights, helps excavate lost luggage or directs people to the right terminal, be they coming or going.

As a volunteer at the Traveler’s Aid booth at LAX’s International Terminal 2E, Freeman intercepts weary travelers--solves their problems in short order--and sends them on their way.

“You start out with ‘what flight did you come in on’ and you go from there. There’s nothing that comes up that you haven’t gone through before,” she says of the 150 requests she averages during a four-hour weekly shift.

Freeman, who lives in North Hollywood, is one of 300 or so volunteers working for the Traveler’s Aid Society of Los Angeles--the local arm of the nonprofit international agency that serves people in crisis.

They help stranded or frazzled travelers as well as the confused friends and relatives waiting for them. And at Los Angeles International Airport, there are plenty of both.

On a recent afternoon, Freeman fielded dozens of requests from frustrated relatives about loved ones stuck in bottlenecks at customs, helped a college student lugging a semester’s worth of luggage find a working elevator, and even tried to locate a British lawn bowling team’s missing bags carrying balls needed for a tournament.

With each problem, Freeman listens, jots notes on scratch paper, looks up answers in various books and resources at her desk or puts out a page or two over the terminal’s loudspeaker.

Often, she’ll even strike out of her booth to check incoming flight monitors or knock on behind-the-scenes doors of various airlines to get answers for anxious travelers.

“I love to be busy,” she said. “There’s nothing worse than not being busy. “

Traveler’s Aid International was founded in 1851. The Los Angeles affiliate--founded in 1922--helps some 16,000 people each week at LAX, Union Station and at stand-alone offices in downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood. The organization is funded through the United Way and various government grants and other contributions.

Most requests directed toward Freeman are pretty routine, but she occasionally encounters a traveler in serious crisis--like a runaway or someone stranded without resources. She refers those travelers to a supervisor in the airport.

Volunteers like Freeman “are the eyes and ears of the agency,” said caseworker Danielle Edwards, who helps those in crisis.

The volunteers are easily identifiable in their bright red jackets and blue trousers. The booths at LAX are staffed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

And with international flights coming in every hour, Freeman often helps two or three passengers at a time.

“It’s like grapes,” she said. “The people come in bunches.”

Freeman has volunteered with Traveler’s Aid for 10 years. Her love of helping travelers comes from her own experiences in the 1950s when she traveled the world on $6 a day without reservations. She knows she’s a reassuring voice for someone unfamiliar with the surroundings. She’s been there.

She’s also expert at dealing with the public, having worked the front counter--before retiring in 1993--for 40 years at a Valley home equipment rental company.

Volunteers use an AT&T; translating service to assist non-English speakers. But usually, Freeman said, problems can be worked out nonverbally--except, of course, the time she couldn’t calm down a red-faced, agitated Russian traveler. It took a translator to sort it all out.

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“She told me that the traveler was upset because a customs officer had just confiscated sausages he had brought his family for Thanksgiving,” Freeman recalled with a laugh.

Work is pretty unpredictable at the Traveler’s Aid booth.

“If we weren’t here,” she says, “these people would just flounder.”

For information on volunteer opportunities with Traveler’s Aid Society of Los Angeles, call (310) 646-2270. Special “Ambassador” meeters and greeters are needed to assist travelers for the Democratic National Convention in August.

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