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I don't really understand either. Sounds like it should take no more than 10 minutes for a somewhat experienced operator.

Find the flight's index card: 1 minute Indicate the booked seat: 0.5 minutes Return the flight's index card: 1 minute Write flight ticket out by hand: 2.5 minutes

That seems a very conservative estimate to me. What happens during the other 85 minutes?

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I think it is more to it than that. The index card only tells them that a seat is available. They also need to read other documents to find out which fares are available and match that to the seat. There are probably specific conditions for that fare that need to be applied and may require calling the agent or or someone else to confirm. If the seat is too expensive or the fare is unavailable, they need to reset the index card, pick a new one and repeat the process.

I imagine arranging payments was also part of the 90-min average.

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