Airport Cleaner

When you next take a flight spare a few moments to look around the airport terminal. Are the floors strewn with litter and detritus? Not usually.

Most busy international airports employ a legion of cleaners whose job it is to keep the airport terminals clean and free from detritus. They perform their work while surrounded by busy people headed off on business trips and harassed families going away for their annual vacations. The packaging from the airport fast food restaurants is enough to fill the airport bins several times over each and every day.

Marie is one of the busy cleaners at Glasgow’s busy international airport. She has previously gained experience at various other Scottish airports, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, but prefers Glasgow as it is much busier.

A typical day for Marie and those in her team will start at 4 a.m. when she starts the early morning shift, getting the airport spruced up ready for that days travellers. She told us that the biggest daily problem she must deal with is unattended luggage. ‘Even though people know about terrorism they can still forget and leave their bags unattended. If I find a bag that is unattended I am required to report it to security straight away. Some poeple can get quite upset when their hand luggage is treated like a bomb.

Marie told us that she doesn’t meet many rude or obnoxious passengers but they do appear from time to time. She said: ‘Only last week I encountered a young woman who purposely dropped her rubbish on the floor in front of me’.

As well as the unattended bags that might be bombs and the occasional rude passenger Marie has to deal with all the odd things that people leave behind. She said: ‘By far the most common things I find these days are mobile phones, but laptops are also common. I’ve even found baby’s pushchairs, toys, medicines and I even once found a false leg.’

A key skill needed by anyone working as an airport cleaner is the ability to deal with all nationalities and people from all walks of life. ‘The ability to stay calm and help a passenger who is about to miss their flight remain calm is definitely a bonus’ said Marie.

Remember: You will get the best deal on Glasgow airport parking, Aberdeen airport parking or Edinburgh airport parking by booking in advance to get up to 60% off the normal cost.