When
Queues are the office's electronic in-trays: lists of booking files waiting for someone to act. Airlines and Galileo drop booking files there (a schedule change, a waitlist that cleared, a ticketing deadline), and agents put files there for colleagues or for a follow-up on a set date.
How they are organised:
- Every PCC has its own queues: 100 numbered queues (0-99) plus two extra ones, UTC (unable to contact) and LMT (left message to call back).
- Queues 0 to 25 have fixed jobs (Pre-assigned queues — what lands on queues 0 to 25); 26 to 99 are free for the office.
- A queue can be split into categories (a two-character code) and date ranges (
D1,D2…), so one queue can hold several sorted piles (Queue titles, categories and date ranges — set up and switch on).
Check first
- Agree in the office who works which queue, and how often. A queue nobody reads is where schedule changes get missed.
Steps
| # | Entry | What it does | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QCA | Counts the booking files on all queues of your PCC. | See where work is waiting. |
| 2 | Q/22 | Signs in to queue 22; its first booking file opens. | Work starts at the top of the pile. |
| 3 | I | Ignores this booking file and moves on; it goes back to the bottom of the queue. | Leave it for later. |
| 4 | QR | Takes the open booking file off the queue and shows the next. | It is done. |
| 5 | QX | Signs out of the queue. | Finish the session. |
| 6 | QEB/41 | Places the open booking file on queue 41 (and ends it). | Hand it to a colleague or a follow-up queue. |
Check it worked
QCA again: the count of the queue you worked has gone down.
Traps
- Inside a queue, some entries behave differently. Ending with
QXEremoves the file from the queue;QXIleaves it there. See Work a queue — sign in, act, remove, sign out. - Some queue entries (emptying a whole queue, changing titles, switching queues on or off) are kept for second-level users.
- A booking file can sit on several queues at once —
QWshows which.