How To Speak Airline-Ese

aviateur · Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:49 am

I'm soliciting examples -- some serious, some tongue-in-cheek -- of the peculiar words, euphemisms, and mysterious phrases used by airlines. This is for an article I'm working on, to run soon in an online magazine, but it should also make an amusing thread here at ANet.

For example, when an airline says "AT THIS TIME," it really means now, or presently. When it says "EQUIPMENT," it means airplane. There's often an assumption that passengers understand these things, but frequently they don't. "THE RAMP?" What the hell is a RAMP?

I have a short list of examples drawn up so far, but I don't want to miss any obvious ones. Feel free to post here, and/or contact me directly at:

Aviateur@askthepilot.com

Cheers,
PS

AA737-823 · Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:45 am

How about apron? Or Finger? Haha, even BUMP!

baw716 · Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:50 am

Here's a good one for those on the ramp: FOD.

baw716

PanAm747 · Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:51 am

Make sure you include the word "heavy". Especially if it is flight #2... rotfl

raventom · Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:55 am

Airside/Landside...

Runway - is the plane going to grow legs and run?

PSAjet17 · Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:41 am

There's the old standard ARUNK!

(ARrival UNKnown used in ticketing when there is an open segment between an arrival city and the next departure city)

[Edited 2007-02-03 00:42:20]

RichardPrice · Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:46 am

Y F E M O etc (not sure if some of those are even proper examples) of types of cabin - eg first, business, economy et al.

Never seen this explained anywhare.

durangomac · Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:10 am

Here are a few:

RON
Turn
Aircraft has called in-range. (Yes I've been asked what this means by a passenger.)
Blue Angel

MattCan · Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:18 am

DEADHEAD for uniformed crew, flying as passengers en route to a scheduled flight.

GAF is Guaranteed AirFare used by airline res to describe ticketing time limits.

IRROPS - irregular operations, due to WX for instance.

NONREV - NON REVenue descibes non-uniformed airline employees flying standby for company business or leisure.

glydrflyr · Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:29 am

This one is more pilot-ese than airline-ese, but here goes. Whenever I hear another pilot say something like "Comanche 89Pop, taking the runway" I'm always tempted to open my mike and say "Hey you 89Pop, don't take that runway anywhere, I'm gonna need it in a minute!"

OHLHD · Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:34 am

What comes to my mind:

INOP - not working Big grin

DEPU - deportee unaccompanied

INAD - inadmisable person

UM - unaccompanied minor

STRETCHER - pax who is unableto fly sitting on a seat ( mostly ill)

MEDA - medical case

APU - Air Power Unit

VOID

uff it is late, more does not come to my mind right now Smile

ahhhh one more

JUMBO:

however passengers are actually very well aware what ajumbo is:

Check this out:

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © David Marshall
its a jumbo

here again....a jumbo:

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Josh Akbar

and yet again :

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Steve Brimley

hmmm and finally... I do not think that this is a jumbo

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Andrew Hunt - AirTeamImages

This is conversation I listend to last week!!! Finally a 747 came along but the guy told his kids that it wasn´t a jumbo! Big grin

Boeing7E7 · Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:39 am

Our RASM is up, our CASM is down but our EPAX numbers are off a bit so we broke even this quarter.

aviateur · Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:21 am

Quoting RichardPrice (Reply 6):
Y F E M O etc (not sure if some of those are even proper examples) of types of cabin - eg first, business, economy et al.

Never seen this explained anywhare.

Actually, it's explained in my book, though I concentrate on "classic" codes, F, C, Y. For biz class, J is a popular one nowadays.

Visit my home page at Askthepilot.com if you're curious about the book. I'n not allowed to link directly through this forum.

PS

N200WN · Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:42 am

1. Direct Flight - The public always confuses this one with "nonstop."

2. The Lav...as in lavatory

3. Airline passengers "deplane" when getting off the aircraft. Say it two times and you'll sound like that little man on Fantasy Island.

4. Sir, your flight is "oversold," you've been "ten-minute ruled" and "bumped" off your flight.

zippyjet · Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:49 am

If we divulge too many secrets we may have to kill you! rotfl

Seriously: a few I can share

Honey-bucket/Lav-crapper on airplane
PETC- Pet In The Cabin
Flow Control- 5 years ago when I started with the company, I thought this meant one of the lav's were out of order. But it is really air traffic congestion/airport congestion.
Cluster Fuck- when all goes wrong.
UMNR-Unnacompanied Minor at first, I asked what the heck is a UMINNER?

Cheers!

EWRCabincrew · Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:06 pm

Quoting MattCan (Reply 8):
DEADHEAD for uniformed crew

Not necessarily uniformed crew (as we can deadhead in civvies), but deadhead is positioning of crew to another city to protect a flight. Deadheading crew are always "must ride", as the crew will bump revenue passengers everytime.

Quoting DurangoMac (Reply 7):
RON

Remain OverNight as in what an aircraft does when it gets to a city at night before going back in the morning somewhere.

Quoting DurangoMac (Reply 7):
Turn

Can mean a few things: Turn is to clean the plane, cater it, service it after it arrives to go right back out (as in when the flight from EWR comes in, we must turn it in 15 minutes as not to delay the outbound departure). It can also mean a one day trip to a destination and back to the originating city (as in I flew a MIA turn from EWR yesterday, we left at 0900 and got back to EWR at 1600).

Layover is always a good one. A lot of non-airline people refer to their ground time between flights as a layover. Crew refer to their time at a destination during a trip as a layover.

Quoting OHLHD (Reply 10):
APU - Air Power Unit

or Auxiliary Power Unit

Baron52ta · Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:17 pm

When I used to work for BMA (as was) a pax asked what the aircraft was to be and on my reply that it was a Fokker the pax asked to see a supervisor for my being rude. LOL

antoniemey · Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:23 pm

Quoting DurangoMac (Reply 7):
Aircraft has called in-range. (Yes I've been asked what this means by a passenger.)

Hey, I've been asked what "canceled" means...

Boston92 · Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:30 pm

How about heading, or the difference between indicated and actual airspeed.

Baron52ta · Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:33 pm

Quoting N200WN (Reply 13):
1. Direct Flight - The public always confuses this one with "nonstop."

That can get even aircrew if you go Aeromexico , coming back from Mex my ticket said direct MEX - SAN and I was just a little bit confused when the plane landed in Peurto Vallarta.

[Edited 2007-02-03 05:41:06]

[Edited 2007-02-03 05:43:05]

Type-Rated · Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:23 pm

Y F E M O

I always thought that was the fare basis used for a ticket, and the fare basis you pay entitles you to the proper cabin associated with it.

codc10 · Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:24 pm

I was sitting in 5D (bulkhead aisle) on a CO 735 flight EWR-Florida very recently, with 5E open next to me, and 5F occupied. Typical for a Plat, I was not upgraded on this aircraft, but thought I was sitting pretty for the short flight with the seat next to me open. Exactly two minutes after scheduled departure time, I overheard the following conversation between the agent and the lead FA:

FA: Well, can we button up? I'm full up front and 101 in back with 2 laps.
GA: We're waiting on a late connect. He's on the cart coming in from 122, should be here any second.
FA: Fine. Let me know.
GA: (Starts down the jetway) Oh, heads up, it's a POS. 5E. Big.
FA: (Glances toward me and the empty seat next to me) Gotcha.
Me: Oh shit...

I have heard the term POS used for Passenger of Size, to describe rather large individuals. Always thought that was kind of funny, especially because growing up, POS always stood for Piece Of Shit, and just to hear it used in that context is worth a chuckle for me. Alternatively, I have heard COS (Customer of Size) used, which must be in light of this particular connection between acronyms!

As it turned out, the flight attendant came up immediately after this conversation and asked me if I would prefer to switch to 14A, which was open, because the passenger on his way to the flight weighed in excess of 400lbs. Naturally, I switched in a heartbeat, as 14A, an exit row, has plenty of legroom and does recline. Needless to say I was glad I took the flight attendant up on the offer, because this particular customer required every bit of space he could get.

ABQopsHP · Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:58 pm

Wingtip

2 flights departing within minutes of eachother to the same airport. Not to be confused with the wingtip of an a/c.

malaysia · Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:21 pm

Quoting PSAjet17 (Reply 5):
There's the old standard ARUNK!

I use ARINK on my system, not ARUNK

fly727 · Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:43 pm

I always find it funny when the airlines, no matter which announce they will give to the passengers at the gate, they all begin with the pompous "Ladies and gentlemen..." just as if we were being called to join the Queen for dinner, when in fact, a mere minutes away one will be cramped in the middle seat of coach class, with two inches of legroom and eating pretzels.

You definitely need to listen to "Airline announcements" by George Carlin. Hilarious!

RM Smile

iflyswa · Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:53 pm

AOG: Aircraft On Ground

My .02

iflyswa

AeroWesty · Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:00 pm

"Change of gauge" to indicate a direct flight with a change of aircraft en route, even though I would suppose historically it's a railroad term.

sstsomeday · Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:49 pm

I bet the average traveller would never guess what "ramp rash" is...

-"V1" or "V2"
-"operational ceiling"
-Flight level 32 (32.000 feet, right?)
-When I was teaching and a student was not operating the radio or transponder properly, and the tower enquired as to any problem, we would reply "No, just Finger trouble"
-When an A/C is technically and legally air worthy it is "servicable"
-I'm blanking on that term when an A/C goes out of service due to a mechanical problem. "It went 'tech?' "
-The "button" of the runway.
-Landing on the "numbers" - (where the number/heading designation of the runway is painted)
-to turn, an A/C "banks"
At liftoff the A/C "rotates"

Just a few I thought of...
Cheers

wingedarrow · Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:55 pm

Even NOSHOW is something that should properly be explained to passengers...

I remember that once a former AZA colleague was explaining to a passenger the reason why his reservation had been cancelled and she told him: "As far as I can see Sir, last week you made a noshow in Milan..." As in Italian NOSHOW could easily be mixed up with A SHOW, the man, totally ignoring the real meaning of the expression in airline-ese, thought that the agent was refferring to some kind of tv show, so he started shouting: "You liars, I didn't do any show in Milan last week!!!" And from that time on, this has been one of the funniest airport stories in FCO...

necigrad · Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:29 pm

Might want to explain what the FARs are and why the airlines don't want to violate them. Passengers don't seem to understand. Define "change of equipment", what can constitute a "crew delay". And explaining what "You need to horry, your flight is leaving in 15 minutes." Some people think that's a scare tactic, and that they have plenty of time to get foor at Burger King or whatever before they go to their gate. 'Cause we always hold a flight for one late passenger you know.

flylku · Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:09 pm

E T O P S - Engines Turn Or People Swim - OK, not really but it still makes me smile.

turnit56N · Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:02 pm

Can I vote to remove "tarmac"?

I can't explain why it's persisted as the catch-all US airline passenger term for any surface you may find an airplane moving, sitting, or taking off on. I don't think anyone in the industry has used it since the 1960s, but for some reason whenever we're on the ramp or a taxiway someone has to tell the person on the other end of the cellphone that we're "on the tarmac". I'm not sure why it's annoying, but for some reason it seems pretentious. It's not 1930, you're not Howard Hughes, and the runway's made of concrete anyway.

S5FA170 · Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:46 pm

Quoting EWRCabincrew (Reply 15):
Not necessarily uniformed crew (as we can deadhead in civvies), but deadhead is positioning of crew to another city to protect a flight. Deadheading crew are always "must ride", as the crew will bump revenue passengers everytime.

You all are lucky at CO! At my airline we must deadhead in uniform, and at United - Positive Space, Crew Movement means "At the gate agent's discretion." I've been denied boarding on MANY United deadheads.

Anyway, my favorite term to use on the airplane is "Momentarily." AKA - 1 hour delay, at least Wink

ClassicLover · Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:17 am

The term "slip".

It's the BA/QF (and others) term for a crew layover (Seriously!).

"We have a 48 hour slip in Bangkok" - for example.

Door5Right · Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:23 am

SLF = Self Loading Cargo = Pax!

CroCop · Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:25 am

Quoting PSAjet17 (Reply 5):
(ARrival UNKnown used in ticketing when there is an open segment between an arrival city and the next departure city)

same as bellow.

Quoting N200WN (Reply 13):
1. Direct Flight - The public always confuses this one with "nonstop."

I cant tell you how many times this drove me mad.

Quoting Zippyjet (Reply 14):
Honey-bucket/Lav-crapper on airplane

We called the truck that dumps the lavs the Turd Hurst, where all turds go to die.

Quoting Malaysia (Reply 23):
I use ARINK on my system, not ARUNK

we always used ARUNK in our system.

lincoln · Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:26 am

Quoting N200WN (Reply 13):
1. Direct Flight - The public always confuses this one with "nonstop."

Ahh, yes. I as on a recent ExpressJet CLE-RDU flight where the passenger across from me was seriously pissed about this -- she was going (IIRC) MKE-RDU. She thought it was nonstop, her itinerary printout said "Stops: 0", but her flight landed in CLE. Then they told her that the CLE-RDU portion of that flight number had been canceled. I couldn't really blame her, either.

There's also Change Of Gauge (same flight number, different physical aircraft -- even if it's the same type of aircraft [something I've never understood the 'why' of])

Quoting S5FA170 (Reply 32):
Anyway, my favorite term to use on the airplane is "Momentarily." AKA - 1 hour delay, at least

Ah, yes, Momentarily, the shorter cousin to "Shortly" -- aka "We have absolutely no idea when, but it will be at least two hours from now"

Lincoln

beau222 · Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:31 am

Imagine trying to explain a Bin Stretcher or HR to a passenger.

cedarjet · Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:41 am

Just say "At this time" at the end of every sentence. Have you ever heard the phrase except through the PA at the gate or on the plane?

It's like "grassy knoll" - ever heard those two words used together except in reference to the late great JFK? Or even "knoll" for that matter. Some phrases just seem to take on one single context. "At this time" certainly has, at this time.

highflyer9790 · Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:42 am

Don't forget LAHSO- Land And Hold Short Operations

STOL- Short Takeoff and Landing

Last call for flight #XXX- this really means you still have 15-20 minutes to board.

highflyer

coleplane · Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:07 am

Quoting OHLHD (Reply 10):
INOP - not working

A brief description is helpful. Obvious ones or not.

Zudnic · Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:24 am

My father always used to complain about the FA's use of the term "deplane." He felt it sounded like they were ridding themselves of some kind of bug infestation.

MDW717 · Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:24 am

Working a delayed flight late one night, I ran over to the next gate to meet an arrival. An older lady stopped me and said, "Is that our plane?" I was in a hurry and not thinking so I said, "No, that's a terminator." Her eyes got real big and scared like I had just called it the death plane, so I had to explain "That means it just finished its last flight of the night."

Of course when I came back off the jetbridge she asked "Well why can't we take the terminator?" I couldn't tell her what I was really thinking - "Why don't you ask the geniusesfine people who routed your plane and crew on 2 EWR turns today?"

thepilot · Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:35 am

At my FBO, if something is "squawked," it has been taken out for mechanical issues.

ie: Where's 174 Golf Foxtrot?
Oh, it's squawked. faulty mag.

I also love "taking the active." My instructor once said at SHN "Don't take it anywhere, we are on two mile final."

Analog · Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:55 am

Quoting Lincoln (Reply 36):

Ahh, yes. I as on a recent ExpressJet CLE-RDU flight where the passenger across from me was seriously pissed about this -- she was going (IIRC) MKE-RDU. She thought it was nonstop, her itinerary printout said "Stops: 0", but her flight landed in CLE. Then they told her that the CLE-RDU portion of that flight number had been canceled. I couldn't really blame her, either.

If it really said "Stops: 0" for MKE-RDU then she had been mislead; it should have been a non-stop.

cedarjet · Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:58 am

Quoting Lincoln (Reply 36):
Change Of Gauge (same flight number, different physical aircraft -- even if it's the same type of aircraft [something I've never understood the 'why' of])

It's a railway term - when there were different railway companies with different track gauges (width between rails), passengers would have to get off one train and onto another, because of the "change of gauge".

Boston92 · Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:20 am

Quoting SSTsomeday (Reply 27):
-Flight level 32 (32.000 feet, right?)

Wouldn't that be 3,200 feet? I think 32,000 feet would be FL320. I might be wrong though...

lincoln · Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:51 am

Quoting Analog (Reply 44):
If it really said "Stops: 0" for MKE-RDU then she had been mislead; it should have been a non-stop.

Yes -- She had a copy of her itinerary with her (it wasn't from CO's website -- I forget which site it was from, though) and allowed me to look it over- it did, indeed, say "Stops: 0" and showing the origin as MKE (or whatever) and the destination as RDU -- I couldn't find any reference at all to Cleveland or any stops.

I couldn't figure out how that could have happened but suggested she call 1-800-WE-CARE-2 when we got tor Raleigh to see if they could come up with a resolution (she was pissed and she had missed a "very special" dinner since she actually wound up in Raleigh several hours after she was scheduled to) -- and "no one at the airport had any idea what had happened"

Quoting Cedarjet (Reply 45):
It's a railway term - when there were different railway companies with different track gauges (width between rails), passengers would have to get off one train and onto another, because of the "change of gauge".

That's what I've always guesses, thanks for confirming it. The part that I've never understood, though, is why an airline would do a change-of-gauge to the same equipment type. For example, a couple of years ago NW had YYZ-DTW-ORD (say flight 1234) and ORD-DTW-YYZ (say flight 1235) flights on a D93. The ORD-DTW chunk of flight 1235 would arrive at gate A17 and then the DTW-YYZ segment would depart from gate A60; conversely the YYZ-DTW segment of flight 1234 would arrive at gate A60, then the DTW-ORD segment would depart from gate A17. (The net result, if you didn't follow that, is one aircraft is doing ORD-DTW-ORD and the other is doing YYZ-DTW-YYZ

I don't get why, if they're the same equipment type (DC 9-30 in this case) the flight number wouldn't stay with the aircraft instead of making any through passengers hike 3/4 of the way across DTW's A concourse to get back on the same flight number... or at least park the flights at gates that are a little close to each other.

Lincoln

EWRCabincrew · Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:55 am

Quoting S5FA170 (Reply 32):
I've been denied boarding on MANY United deadheads

If you were denied boarding, what happened to the flight you were supposed to have worked? Gate agents have gotten into really bad trouble for not boarding us, it resulted in a flight being cancelled once and a delay the second time.

WildcatYXU · Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:56 am

Quoting Cedarjet (Reply 45):
It's a railway term - when there were different railway companies with different track gauges (width between rails), passengers would have to get off one train and onto another, because of the "change of gauge".

That's interesting...Never heard about that. Trains going to former soviet countries literally change gauge. The car is hoisted and the undercarriages replaced...

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