I worked part time for Delta in a small spoke airport. We did everything. Ramp, baggage, reservations, ticketing. It truly was a great part time job.

The pay wasn't great. About on par with Wal-mart (actually, a little less). But the flight benefits made up for it.

During the three years I did it, my parents were able to fly to be with my sister when she gave birth. My wife was able to make many trips with our kids to see her parents. We went on multiple trips around the country including Hawaii (First Class even). All for free.

*edit One of my favorite screw ups involved a hunting dog. We were a pretty popular hunting destination. During the fall we had a huge number of people fly in, some with their hunting dogs. About 15 minutes before the last plane of the day was supposed to land, I get a call from an airport in Virginia. They proceed to tell me that there is a dog on the plane, but that it is the wrong dog. The dogs were walked at the Minneapolis airport, and the moron who walked them didn't put them back in the correct kennels. The other airport had already reported everything and had made the arrangements to get the dogs swapped back in Minneapolis the next day.

So I had the lovely job of telling the hunter that his dog was in Virginia. He was amazingly cool about it.

Yes, you have to deal with annoying customers at times, but no more than in any other service industry.