Pros
Yes you fly for free domestically (ON STANDBY), meet a lot of people. Plenty of opportunities in other states if you are looking to transfer. Benefits can be great if you are full time. (You don’t get any medical if you are ready reserve which is part time)
Cons
Your body will indeed break down if you work on the ramp. There’s no if ands or buts about it. Eventually you will get hurt. You can be as “safe” as you want but lifting heavy bags everyday will break you down. Working as a gate agent you have to be mentally strong to deal will time pressure in conjunction with attending to passengers needs. (And the rude and disrespectful ones will test you) especially if there are cancellations,delays, etc... Now I must say the biggest CON is that your flight privileges are only amazing when the flight isn’t full. 95% of the time the flights are full. No matter where you are. You are flying on standby which means you get whatever seats are left if any. So you’ll spend ALL day (6am -9pm at times) at the airport trying to catch a 3 hour flight somewhere. It’s kind of a joke...So take that into consideration of all you have to deal with and is it worth it. Because be honest we all want an airline job for the benefits. That’s as honest as I can be hope this helps. You will not be able to make a decent leaving off of the pay, Full time is hard to come by, I have a colleague that has been trying to become full time for 10 years!