Notes from Marvin Singer, a volunteer with Travelers Aid and a member of GT’s Globility Board:

One of the volunteer assignments with Travelers Aid at Dulles airport is Post-Security Rover. For this assignment, I go through the security checkpoint and walk all over the airport gate areas. I look for people who seem lost or a bit confused, and I ask if they know where their gate is or where they need to go next. If there is an information desk without a volunteer and the area looks busy, I will stop and work there until the crowd dissipates.

On a recent day I worked as a rover, I stopped at the desk where some arriving international passengers begin their transfer to domestic flights. A Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt was significantly delayed, and many of the passengers had to stay overnight because they missed the last connection to their final destination. Lufthansa had given these people vouchers for a hotel and meals.

One of Lufthansa’s passengers came through the glass doors to my desk and looked a bit confused. I asked if he knew where he had to go and he said, “Curb Three.” He was looking for the place where the hotel shuttles pick up guests to take them to the nearby hotels. I explained how to get there: Take the airport train to the baggage claim stop, exit the secure area, go down the ramp across two streets and look for the sign for the hotel shuttles. Then I asked if he understood the directions. He said, “Yes, but what’s a curb?” So I explained that, too!

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I also substituted at the International Desk, which was unstaffed. Two people approached me and asked about passengers on the flight from Doha that had come in at about 4 p.m. I asked what passports the passengers had. They replied they held Afghani passports and were coming to the United States under the program for Afghans who worked as translators for the U.S. Army.

When some of the officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency came out to get coffee, I stopped them and asked about passengers in “secondary” (additional screening). They replied they were backed up earlier and there were passengers in secondary. I motioned for the people waiting for the Afghan passengers to come and speak to one of the officers. And it turned out the family they were waiting for was indeed in secondary.

The greeters were from Catholic Charities, waiting to welcome this family of five and help them get settled in the United States. I saw them come out a bit later, the parents and three young children. All of their possessions were in suitcases piled on three luggage carts. I can’t begin to imagine the transition they will experience, but the greeters said they were excited and happy to be here.

On another recent roving shift I stopped at the Travelers Aid desk in the B Concourse. This desk is located where passengers come upstairs from the train station. It was late in the afternoon, and each time a train would arrive, a throng of passengers would come up the escalator. Most were interested in examining the sign with the restaurants or they asked about the airline club lounges.

One woman asked where the United Airlines gate was. Since United’s gates are almost entirely in Concourses C and D, I asked where she was traveling. She was looking for the United flight to San Salvador. Avianca also has a flight to San Salvador, and it departs from Concourse B. She had taken that flight previously, she told me. And so, by habit, she came to Concourse B. I asked to see her boarding pass and noted the gate needed was D1. She did have plenty of time, and I explained to her how to get to D1: First on the train and then walking from the station to her gate. Her English was very good, and I was sure she would be able to find it.

Twenty minutes later I was very much surprised when she reappeared in front of my desk. I’m not sure how she got back there, but somehow she got off at the wrong station and came back to the B gates. I asked if she would like me to accompany her to gate D1. Looking relieved she said, “Yes, please.” So I took the train with her all the way back to the C Concourse. We walked to gate D1 and saw that was the correct gate for the United flight to San Salvador.

That day I walked four miles!

— Marvin Singer, Globility Board member