Words change their meaning when you get inside an airport.

kurtainsider

Is anyone else annoyed at the way simple words have a different meaning when used in relation to air travel?

“Boarding” means that the inbound plane is over the Irish Sea.
“Gate Closing” means that the inbound plane has landed.
“Final Call” means that boarding will begin in a half hour or so?
"Enjoy your flight"? Yea - right.

Are there any others?

jasT1981

Slight delay - you're flying with Ryanair, you're screwed.

Rawr

Not as much annoyance, but amusement whenever a gate has announced that they are "paging" someone.

"KLM FLight 111 is paging Mr. Joe Bloggs. Mr. Bloggs to the gate please"

The immediate response in my head is: "Good luck with that...he probably left is pager back in 1987. Better off sending him an SMS "

Noxegon

One specific to a certain well known middle-eastern carrier – "we will be landing shortly" means that "we're now overhead Amsterdam".

john boye

"Coffee" often seems to mean a strange vaguely brown water

flazio

Never ever greet your friend Jack with the word "Hi"

sparrowcar

Nothing in the airport is "da bomb"

elperello

Years ago I gave up expecting truth in airports.
I now expect the worst and in a strange way it's led to a much less stressful experience.

__..__

"sit back relax and enjoy the flight".

Chris_5339762

"Gate closing" on the boarding card means the time the gate will open if the incoming flight is on time.

Jamie2k9

15 minute boarding delay = maybe 30-40 minutes and no update for passengers.

“Boarding” means that the inbound plane is over the Irish Sea.

In some places you wouldn't see that word, goes straight to final call!

Ready for Boarding = been stuck on steps or air bridge for 10 minutes...

term

Departure time is when the doors closed, not when the wheels left the ground.

Chris_5339762

"Taxiing" doesn't mean moving, it means 20 minutes sitting in a long queue of planes without any information from the cockpit as to how many planes are in front of us or how long we may be.

coylemj

term wrote: »

Departure time is when the doors closed, not when the wheels left the ground.

Is it not when the plane is pushed back from the gate? I believe if the plane sits there with the doors closed, it has not yet 'departed'.

I think that's how it works according to Flightradar24.

LXFlyer

coylemj wrote: »

Is it not when the plane is pushed back from the gate? I believe if the plane sits there with the doors closed, it has not yet 'departed'.

I think that's how it works according to Flightradar24.

FR24 quotes actual take off and landing times, and compares them with scheduled departure/arrival times, which are two completely different things.

Departure and arrival times to me are the times an aircraft pushes back off stand and arrives on stand and engines shut down.

It is comparing apples and oranges.

coylemj

LXFlyer wrote: »

FR24 quotes actual take off and landing times, and compares them with scheduled departure/arrival times, which are two completely different things.

I never suggested otherwise.

LXFlyer wrote: »

Departure and arrival times to me are the times an aircraft pushes back off stand and arrives on stand and engines shut down.

Which matches what I said if we take 'gate' and 'stand' to mean the same thing......

coylemj wrote: »

Is it not when the plane is pushed back from the gate? I believe if the plane sits there with the doors closed, it has not yet 'departed'.

I'm not sure why you quoted my post - do we disagree on something

Irish Steve

Departure, now there's a challenge. A long time ago, it was SOP for some American operators to check with the push back team that the tug was connected, and the chocks clear, and if they were, the brakes were released, even if they were going to be on stand for quite some time, as their systems recognised Brakes off and sent the relevant message to their flight operations department (presumably via ACARS), which meant they were "in the clear" regarding delays. The fact that there might still be a period of time before they got the clearance to push was not a factor. In some cases, the brakes were off even though there were still last minute bags, buggys etc to go in the rear hold and the belt loader to be removed, and on one occasion, the high loader was still putting bags into the rear hold, but "the system" was happy because they were "on time".

LXFlyer

@Coylemj

No - I was merely expanding on it and pointing out the fact that people should be aware of those idiosyncratic facets when looking at FR24.

server down

Rawr wrote: »

Not as much annoyance, but amusement whenever a gate has announced that they are "paging" someone.

"KLM FLight 111 is paging Mr. Joe Bloggs. Mr. Bloggs to the gate please"

The immediate response in my head is: "Good luck with that...he probably left is pager back in 1987. Better off sending him an SMS "

Paging was used before pagers. It meant summoning over a public address system

Rawr

server down wrote: »

Paging was used before pagers. It meant summoning over a public address system

I had an inkling that it probably meant something like that Thank you for confirming.

I my head I can't help but still compare this verb to a pocket pager

kurtainsider

"In the unlikely event of landing on water life jackets may be found....."

It should be:
"In the unlikely event of anyone surviving a landing on water life jackets may be found....."

smurfjed

and if they were, the brakes were released, even if they were going to be on stand for quite some time, as their systems recognised Brakes off and sent the relevant message to their flight operations department (presumably via ACARS), 

It also helps when one is paid by block time.

Rawr said:

Not as much annoyance, but amusement whenever a gate has announced that they are "paging" someone


Our onboard PA system is labelled PAGE.

PukkaStukka

kurtainsider wrote: »

"In the unlikely event of landing on water life jackets may be found....."

It should be:
"In the unlikely event of anyone surviving a landing on water life jackets may be found....."

Expanding a little further on that, you are also supplied with a whistle to attract attention. Now, if everyone is fortunate enough to survive and use their whistles, the ensuing racket will be reminiscent of something from One Man and his Dog

Locker10a

PukkaStukka wrote: »

kurtainsider wrote: »

"In the unlikely event of landing on water life jackets may be found....."

It should be:
"In the unlikely event of anyone surviving a landing on water life jackets may be found....."

Expanding a little further on that, you are also supplied with a whistle to attract attention. Now, if everyone is fortunate enough to survive and use their whistles, the ensuing racket will be reminiscent of something from One Man and his Dog

The whistle also has to mentioned in the safety demonstration or video, maybe the regulator was inspired by James Cameron’s Titanic.

xper

Go To Gate = Time for a swift one

kurtainsider

xper wrote: »

Go To Gate = Time for a swift one

or two

Charles Babbage

Priority passengers may board now = you may stand on the stairs down to the door for 15 minutes

Rawr

xper wrote: »

Go To Gate = Time for a swift one

Gate Closing = Gate not open yet

JCX BXC

Gate closed = boarding commencing (have been greeted with this at DUB once or twice before)

Ted_YNWA

Rawr wrote: »

Gate Closing = Gate not open yet

More like the plane you will be boarding is on the final approach for landing.

Bazzy

kurtainsider wrote: »

"In the unlikely event of landing on water life jackets may be found....."

It should be:
"In the unlikely event of anyone surviving a landing on water life jackets may be found....."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549

kurtainsider

Bazzy wrote: »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549

Thanks for supporting my point Bazzy. It was such an unlikely outcome that they made a movie about it.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Travelator = Somewhere for you to stand and hold up other people so you don't have to bother your fat hole walking