Is there a name for the people who stand right at the edge of the baggage carousel so no one can see or get to their bags as they come around?
There’s also a special place in someplace bad for entire families who crowd up to the edge of the carousel taking up room from people whose bags are ready to be picked up.
Seriously, people. Just stand back and, when your bag is visible, one person walk up to retrieve it.
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Gate moths. I like that better. All the derision without the negative connotations of “lice”.
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I don’t even know what the original name is supposed to mean, other than being dehumanising. Lice aren’t known for crowding together or being drawn to a specific point
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Came here to say this.
Also, if you get rid of the jet bridge and board from tarmac, you can board from multiple doors. Planes in countries where this is normal load and unload much more quickly. Even if it isn’t that practical for a Chicago winter.
Spacing the seats out and having fewer passengers also means there is less competition for overhead bins and more space for stowing small bags under the seat.
Eliminating first class would cut 10 minutes from the time to board and deplane. No need for a flight attendant to get me coffee while they hold the remaining passengers back.
Actually making a profit with an airline with these changes? I have no idea how.
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I recently flew on a plane that basically only had overhead space for half the passengers. Knowing this, on the return flight, I had no problem with checking my carry- on since my personal bag contains all the stuff I actually need on the flight anyway.
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I fly quite a lot. I think overhead items per-passenger should amount to at most one corgi-sized bag, or two items that sum to one corgi. Its amazing how quickly the boarding process goes with airlines that use this policy.
I’m amused by airports that start boarding by group, then once you go through the gate you end up taking a bus to the plane anyway. Happens in Frankfurt A.M. all the time. Boarding from both ends certainly speeds things up.
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Yeah, especially since the busses invert the boarding order. Usually those that enter the bus last, exit it first and board the plane before the privileged.
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OT, but this reminded me: I was once on the last flight going from the East Coast to the Midwest (they tried to get as many people on, regardless of airline) during a horrendous storm on Christmas Eve (which is why they were going above and beyond to try to get people as near as possible to where they were going) and when we got to O’Hare in Chicago, they couldn’t operate the jet bridge because of the ice so we had to walk out in something like 70ºF BELOW ZERO to get off the plane. They couldn’t get the cargo hold doors open either, so no luggage (with presents, and often food as well) until Christmas Day. At least everything was nicely refrigerated.
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Planes have front and rear doors but you almost inevitably have to go through the front door to get on and off. I always feel like the whole experience would be greatly improved if they’d use both fucking doors. Every once in a while I end up at a tiny airport where instead of going through the flexible bridge, you go outside and climb a movable staircase from the ground to the door, and sometimes there are stairs at both ends, and it is fucking great.
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At Arlanda (Stockholm international airport) this is done quite often without getting rid of the jet bridge: inside its corridor there’s usually a sign “Passengers in seats (e.g.) 15-32” with an arrow towards stairs, and then an outdoor marked (cones and/or ribbon) path towards the plane’s rear entrance.
The same goes at landing: very often both doors are opened.
Bad - I mean, usual - weather does not seem a deterrent for the sign to be there.
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I would rather be a gate louse, than a late goose.
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Ugh, idk if there’s a name, but I hate that. I’m sure some people have their reasons for it, but it’s very anti-social.
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Am I wrong, or are the airline staff at the boarding gate literally there to be gatekeepers?
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It seems silly to call this “egregious” behavior. Is crowding around the door annoying for the airline staff? Sure, I can see that. Is it selfishness? Maybe, by some of the participants, although the article gave a whole list of possible motivations that don’t all involve selfishness.
There must be a need for some pejorative terms.
Flying sucks, and it doesn’t bring out the best in people, but we don’t need to make it worse. Maybe it’s just me or the wacky times we live in, but it seems bizarre to argue that you certainly must have–nay, NEED–a mean name for people doing something that might be slightly annoying.
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Study:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1521727113
We show that physical design that highlights inequality can trigger antisocial behavior on airplanes. More broadly, these results point to the importance of considering the design of environments—from airplanes to office layouts to stadium seating—in understanding both the form and emergence of antisocial behavior.
It is a dehumanizing experience by design.
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Typical issue when boarding:
Announcement: We are now boarding group 4.
Some Passengers: I am in group 1, 2, or 3… Did I miss the announcement?
Announcement: No… The group numbers have no helpful meaning for the customer
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I remember one airline (I think it was USAir way back in the day) briefly trying a “zone system,” but not one based on just row number. It took into account row numbers and window/middle seats. I think the idea is that if you moved these L shapes up the plane, then you could save time by not having the aisle seat people settling in, only to then get up again, possibly more than once, and blocking the aisle while the window seat people in the same row got in. Not a bad idea in theory, but it worked about as well as you’d expect in practice.
I think is was also USAir or possibly American that briefly tried enforcing the boarding groups. If you sneakily snuck up early, they wouldn’t let you on the plane and made you stand to the side. That also worked as well as you’d expect, but with more yelling. If memory serves, it might have even been pre-9/11, so as a passenger, you could lose your mind a little bit without immediately being escorted out. I remember one Karen (before Karens were Karens) screaming “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? ARE YOU DUMB?” at a gate agent and somehow still getting on the flight.
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When I read comments like this, my first thought is “It really isn’t, though…” Then I remember I’m not in the US but have flown within it on occasion, and I think “Yes it is, in places.”
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