I really hate how every un aviation educated man and his dog thinks that every plane that doesnt have props is a Jumbo Jet.
high_flyr69

"Your Airline LOST My Bag and now I need my medicine !!"  

First of all, we didn't LOSE your bags. The bag simply missconnected it's flight and will (9.999 times out of 10) be here within the next 12-24 hours. Depending on where it's coming from it could be on the next flight.

These are more like pet peeves but passengers who (and MSPXJGuy and any other airline gate or customer service agent can back me up on this) pack items of great importance to them in their checked luggage. Obviously one of the airline's goal is to get the passengers baggage to the passenger's final destination when that passenger arrives, but sometimes things do happen and the bag doesn't arrive when they do.
The bottom line is this... DO NOT pack items in your checked luggage (ie, Heart medication, car keys, money, passport, etc) that you will need in the event your bag arrive slightly later than you do.

Just putting in my 2 cents..
GulfstreamGuy

p.s. For all you airline employees.. is it just me or does the majority of passengers who's bags are missing, contain clothes for a funeral or wedding..?

Why are there no parachutes in airliners ??? In case of emergency, everybody jumps and the pilots are left with the plane, but only the pilot is at risk, then.

I've tried to explain that the death toll would be much higher, but "I don't care, I'd feel safer"

707

Does it not occur to some of you that these people to whom you're acting so arrogantly might be experts themselves in subjects which would make you look a complete clueless moron?  

A common one I have run into, especially with some older folks, is the misconception that as you go up in the Boeing series, the bigger the plane. "Wow, a 757! that must be huge!" "You mean there is a 777 now? What does it seat, 800?"

Another detail that gets to me is when TV and movies do not match interior to exterior shots of planes. Take for example, the second "Brady Bunch" movie. They're off to Hawaii from Los Angeles in a narrow-body DC-9 (first detail missed), and then the interior shots are of a wide body DC-10, or L-1011. Details!



[Edited 2003-10-21 16:23:05]

Just take a look at our old favorite, the "Wings" channel; every time any aircraft with a prop is on the screen, C130s, Electras, you name it, the soundtrack carries the sound of a PISTON engine.

When that same airplane takes off, you hear the engines accelerating like a car and not reaching full power until the end of the runway.

I also laugh at the TV "avaishun expurts" who like to drop the word "tarmac" into every other sentence. And, by the way, they are "engines" and not "motors".

Interesting responses, but don't be so quick to accuse other people of being ignorant. Perhaps they have knowledge in another area that you don't. Not everybody needs to be an aviation fanatic.

Jason

The biggest issue I have with aviation ignorance happens to be with my wife of 8 yrs. We have travelled to numerous place around the world on numerous types of aircrafts. Yet, when I tell her about the type of aircraft we are flying or some tid-bit of history about the a/c, she totally shuts me up. She is litterally bored and unimpressed with the info I am providing her. Her simple response "SO!!" just happens to put a stake through my heart. For her getting on a plane is like getting on a bus. No difference. If it was not for her looks and the fact that she is a great mom, I would divorce her in a heart beat. HA.ha.ha.

Have heard some funny comments over the years of spotting and working at the airport... some selected pearls...:

A lady approaches me at the observation deck and pointing to a line-up of Varig 737s asks me: "which plane is going to Porto Alegre?" For what I reply: Hard to tell mamm and she says "ohhhh I thought it was written on the drivers window" note. On bus travel here, it is common to see the destination and STD written with removable ink on the front door window or front window.

Normally all Boeing planes are Jumbos or even worse, all planes at all are Boeings...

Some people really believe that the number of windows on one a pax plane equals the number of pax on board.

Rgds

RS

The biggest mistake made by lay folks when flying is not doing any homework and viewing air travel as a commodity, with different airlines being perfect substitutes for one another. I can't believe the number of people who can't distinguish ATA from American from AirTran. It is not that complicated, folks. Take 5 minutes to visit the airline's website and you'll be all set. Ditto with regard the general public's knowledge of airline policies. Common sense would dictate that your 100 pound bag weighs too much and that you can't show up to the gate at DEPARTURE time and expect to board the aircraft. My favorite are those folks who JUST HAVE to get somewhere and take the flight that will get them there at the last possible moment before they MUST arrive. In some areas, the public is truly stupid, apathetic, and in serious need of a personal responsibility reality check.

However, they pay my wages and make my company profitable: for that I am grateful.

joe

People who are comforted by the flying over oceans in the event of a faliure which requires an emergency landing...
Then another funny thing are the pictures on the safety cards when you see the aircraft floating on the surface and then the passengers camly jumping into the liferafts while getting their lifevests on.  


Id rather have a belly landing on concrete that landing on water anyday!

Andersjt...

Are you seriously expecting tight continuity from THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE???

Well heres my list in no real order...

-Cessnas are Cessnas, everything else is a 747.
-Captain and First Officer are the same.
-The flaps are the 'landing gear'.
-A 737-100 is the same thing as a 737-900.
-The 787 is a real aircraft.
-Engines make it fly, so if they cut out the plane will crash.
-Pilots are beefed up bus drivers.
-Air Canada and Canadi>n are the same.
-Media saying MD-80 and showing a DC-9.
-My name is "Mr. Airplane Flying Guy"
-"I flew Westjet to Kelowna, and it was a 747 eh"
-I'm gunna be a pilot.
-And theres more Im not gunna bother to think of

CanadianNorth

They confuse L-1011's with DC-10's and vise versa. When planes do touch and gos, they say that the pilot does'nt know how to land. They think that ANYBODY can sit in the exit row because of the leg room.They freak out when they see anybody that even looks like they fly the plane walking around during flight. My best friend thinks that the Airline makes the aircraft and not the manufacturer. If it has two engines on the wings, it has got to be a 767. And if it's bigger than a EMB 120, it's really big.

One thing I have seen and heard was when i was at Lego Land in 1998. Concorde flew over and some women said to her little boy 'Look, that plane travels at the speed of light'

I was pi55ing myself!!! 

And the mistake i make is identifying planes at FL300 or what ever   hence why I ask you guys  Which isn't so bad.

Regards,

Justin.

JKW777  

GulfstreamGuy:, If I call the airline and their representative cannot tell me the location of my luggage, then it's L O S T.If it was not lost, you would be able to say "It's in Cleveland" or "It's on a aircraft headed towards Amarillo", etc. etc.

Friends...
Some of you laugh at the general public mistakes... ok, granted...
But be aware, some of you make supposedly "true statements" that are seriously flawed here in Civ.Av... be careful of making "educated statements" if you are not really certain, say so... better you avoid leading others into wrong ideas. Do not act like the "general public"...
xxx
Happy contrails  
(s) Skipper

I have a friend that likes to pretend like she knows a lot about everything. I usually don't let it bother me, but when it comes to aviation...don't go there!

So she went to Australia in the nineties sometime right around the time when United introduced the 777. So there was quite a bit of hype and she's flying United and tells me two things:

1. I'm flying United on their new 777 from LA to Sydney.

2. The flight is 18 hours.

Um. no.

Before someone wants to ask me a question they usually first ask something like "are you a spotter", sometimes I answer back: "no I am wearing an anorak and carrying a camera, binoculars and blocknote because it is the latest fashion".

One day some German guy was bragging to his son how he used to work at Fokker making F50s, he pointed out at a Dash-8 saying he made one of those. To which his little son replied, "but dad, isn't that a Dash-8?". Who ever said Germans aren't funny!

To confuse an A320 with a B737 is one thing, to confuse a Concorde with a 747 is waaaaaay off!

As a gate previous gate agent from a few years back, I was amazed at how many newlyweds think that it is required by the airline to automatically upgrade them to first class.

Another thing I found amazing was when people came up to the podium to check in after they have a boarding pass. Please, waste my time more than it already was.

Biggest mistake I've seen has to be how planes fly.

The amount of times I have seen it explained as Bernouilli's principle (differing pressures on each side of the wing), where actually it is Newtons third law -(every action has an equal and opposite reaction).

I've seen this wrong from organisations such as Microsoft, and even on Discovery Wings.

Rich.

Well, we should consider the mistakes made by those who claim and/or pretend to be knowledgeable ... like journalists:

Newspaper: "The Concorde's engine caught fire on take-off. Shortly after, the plane stalled and crashed near CDG airport" ... thought Concorde's don't stall (well, in the true sense of the word at least).

"On board duty-free sales are alwyas cheaper" ...

Zurich is the capital of Sweden and Switzerland has a king ...

One nut in school who supposely knows about aviation from his relative who was involved with the industry kept telling me that I was saying the wrong type of plane. "Its a Fokker 29" not an F28.
He would not bother to hear the truth as he would deny any truth tellings.

He would also call Antonovs "Antovs"

So I walked away.

General public who just come to the airport to watch planes are the more common ones when it comes to mistakes. Type errors, and such.

Didn't someone on CNN refer to the A300 as a "Boeing Airbus"?

Richard28: Please don't tell me you went there! Opening up the Bernoulli vs Newton can of debate! I'm not going to get into it, but there are plenty of pilots out there who will argue to the death for Bernoulli, and vice versa of course!

And as far as pet peeves, ya, every single engine piston in the world is a Cessna.

I hate it when people cry to me, that they had to actualy switch planes, like when they are flying FRA-DSM or where-ever the f*** and ask me, if I could check the internet for a direct flight.
oh yeah...and only a 747 can make it across the pond.
And let me just say, I'm glad I no longer have to 'discuss' who is bigger:
British Airways or British World Airlines?

"The amount of times I have seen it explained as Bernouilli's principle (differing pressures on each side of the wing), where actually it is Newtons third law -(every action has an equal and opposite reaction)."

Nope, neither one is right; it is the Coanda Effect, even though the others contribute. If the aiflow separated from the airfoil we'd ALL be taking busses.

Now I'm gonna run for cover.

We were flying from Kona, Hawaii to Los Angeles and the plane was a 757.

This kid (about 15) was telling his dad that it was a 777.

I let him bury himself pretty deep before I interrupted him.

He was pretty embarrassed.

It was ok though.

Turns out he was thinking about aviation as a career.

FB05

OK, I won't complain about, say, doctors' lack of aviation know-how, they will laugh at me - just recently I asked one why anesthesia was such a difficult thing. He explained that to me in a way as if I explained to him the difference between a bike and a Concorde, BUT:

1) indeed there are those people that claim to know, and all those journalists who said "Swiss is joining the world's largest alliance, Oneworld" and then just five minutes later talked about "Air France and KLM creating the world's biggest alliance, Skyteam" clearly have not done their homework very diligently

2) there are those frequent fliers that should now better, but still there are so many that are sitting in a plane at the edge of the runway, 10 mins after pushback, look at their watch and say "we are 10 mins late again, we should be up there already"

3) all those super-smarts that un-fasten their seatbelt just after the wheels have touched the ground (why??? just loosen it a bit if you really find it uncomfortable)

4) F/As in Germany, that get rude and hysterical when you use your cell phone when stepping onboard. THey act as if the life of hundreds of people was in danger - and won't even shut up when you tell them that most airlines in the world allow passengers to use their phones as long as the doors are open (in the US, even when taxiing) or when you point to the cockpit crew who are happily using their cell phones. They brabble something pretty incoherent about navigation and electronics and so on, never convincing.

And then there's my favourite, which is not exactly a "lacking knowledge of aviation", but just plain stupid: people jumping out of their seats, climbing over each other and dashing to the overhead to grab their luggage, just to be stucked in some uncomfortable position for 10 more minutes - guys, when you're sitting in seat 37E, how long do you think it will take for the áirbridge to align, the door to open, all the people from the 36 rows in front of you to get their stuff etc before you can disembark??

I always book a window seat and when I get a young one on his first flight or a blond sitting next to me I always point out the window. "See that little Blue Tug" it is the only thing faster than this airplane, he will be waiting on us when we get to our destination. If the kid falls for it I explain that I was just joking. If the Blond falls for it I get her phone number.

I was at Heathrow today, and a lil kid confused a private jet with Concorde, it was pretty funny, but he was only about 7. But I would of thought its pretty hard to confuse Concorde with a private jet!

LHR340