@busdriver11 well…Star Alliance which was actually USAir for out trip…never responded about my lost 24,000 FF miles…ever. Not even an acknowledgment that they got my emails. I went to customer no service at the airport too. No help there either. It got me more annoyed than getting rebooked on a different flight would have!
Okay, that’s really sketchy. Geez.
Basically what you get is "we’re sorry we messed up, here, you get to pay (in dollars and/or suffering or both). I can’t think of any other industry that gets away with this. Yes, there are weather problems and those are tricky, but losing reservations, changing or losing seat assignments, changing flight routes and stops, severe overbooking, routinely having mechanical delays and cancellations - yes, these things happen and we should deal with them but we should not expect that this is good business and be grateful that it doesn’t happen every time.
I also can’t think of another industry that has common derogatory comments about its customers - kettle, gate lice, etc.
“Gate lice”??
We were delayed on dec 30th for five-six hours due to “mechanical issues.” other passengers in the club were also delayed - many for a day or more - for different mechanical issues. The plane they sent to replace ours also was delayed for “mechanical issues.” What I heard from others is that the airline often uses this term when hey have over scheduled the crew or an aircraft, or for various other reasons that are not really mechanical. I complained and was given a $7 food voucher for a meal. Funny, since it only bought half of the least expensive quesadilla. I could have had a coffee for $7. Nothing else. The flight time change from 4pm to nearly 10pm caused us to arrive at our destination after many transit options were unavailable (too late) and an inconvenience for anyone to pick us up. It also caused us to drive at home at 6am instead of midnight. at the end of the flight, the pilot announced that we could check the website for compensation that was being offered. it was either $100 voucher good for 1 year or 5,000 miles. I was somewhat surprised, in a good way.
I also don’t understand anything in this sentence.
Infrequent or inexperienced travelers are called kettle - that happened here. Gate lice refers to the crowd of people waiting to board in the coach section. Yes, people in the airline industry will use the term but not out loud. You also hear it from elite level travelers who want to feel that they are above the fray.
“Gate lice” are the people who crowd around the gate before their boarding group number has been called, making it impossible for the people whose numbers have already been called to get to the gate.
Jet Blue’s illustration of the problem- “Flight Etiquette #5”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Quz4mEBfYag
We call flying taking a bus that happens to be in the sky. Really…I think bus service might be better now than flying.
Those expressions are not used by the industry. They are used by the uber-frequent flyers on FlyerTalk. Trust me, they have handed me my head on a platter when I’ve asked questions about frequent flyer baggage rules, transfer times at certain airports, etc. Also trust me that despite having high status on both UA and AA, I’m a kettle compares to many of them! Sorry I used the term.
There is no excuse for being rude, either in what you say to people to their faces or behind their backs. And that applies to everyone - stewards and airline reps, passengers and fellow travelers.
I always told the people who worked for me that there would be no name calling or nasty comments allowed about our clients even among ourselves because what you think about people eventually drives behavior.
Sh** - and snow - happens. Airline delays are the reason God invented the Kindle.
Edited to add: well there is one exemption from the “don’t be rude” rule, and that’s if your team just got creamed and you’re “commenting” on the other side 
I also have never heard of “gate lice”. Though I think one can read stories for the rest of their life about how passengers were abused by airlines. Deregulation has most definitely had it’s effect on airlines. When you think about it, airfares can be unbelievably cheap. I just paid $150 for a one way ticket, practically coast to coast for my husband, and $350 for first class for him, for another coast to coast flight. What were we paying 30 years ago for that same flight? Probably the same, or more. However, what industry is allowed to declare bankruptcy time and time again, yet the company still exists? Bankruptcy is used to stay competitive and shed debts, but these companies still stay in business.
I have avoided United for many years, even taking additional legs and paying more money, as I have considered them to not even be an option. Every single time I flew on them, somebody was really, unnecessarily rude to me. Gate agents, flight attendants…and I have a thick skin. But I flew on them awhile ago, everyone was nice, the flight attendant was friendly, and I felt like it was an entirely different airline. I don’t know if they’ve changed their attitude, or it was a fluke. But it seems that the least employees can do, is to be polite. I know everyone is overworked and stressed, but you don’t have the right to be rude to your customers.
A few more expressions used by frequent flyers:
“Mileage run” - a long trip undertaken simply to rack up frequent flyer miles and re-qualify for elite status. The flyer would typically combine a great affiliated credit deal (say 3X or 5X miles for every dollar spent) with a great long-distance fare particularly a “mistake fare” (an especially low cost fare the airline is till honoring despite the fact that someone obviously made a mistake). The flyer doesn’t necessarily see or do anything at their destination, They might not even leave the airport. The idea is simply to earn as many points as possible, say earning $3,000 worth of FF points by spending $1,000 and 18 hours on a plane. Airlines have gotten savvy to the practice and made it harder to make lucrative mileage runs in the past few years.
The hotel stay version of this is called a “mattress run”. A mattress run might involve staying at one hotel the first night, moving to a second hotel the third night, then back to the original hotel for a third might in order to qualify for 3 discreet hotel stays, as opposed to the one stay earned by staying in the same hotel each night.
“Lounge hitchhikers” (also called “door lice”). People who wait around at the entry to an airline lounge hoping to be guested by a stranger.
“Hidden city” or “throwaway” ticket- When a passenger books a ticket with stopovers, then hops off at one of the stopovers, throwing away the ticket for the final leg of the flight because it’s cheaper than booking a ticket from the point of origin to their desired destination (the stopover.)
Never heard of any of those except for the “mileage run”, Sue. Interesting what the names are. As far as the mileage run, the Points Guy once listed an amazing deal that was obviously an error on the United website. If I recall it correctly, it was something like $30 for a US-Asia flight. I’m not sure if they honored those deals, but if they did, someone got a major mileage run, or a great trip, practically for free.
@busdriver11, I’ve seen some incredible deals and sometimes the airline will honor them if they’re not too obviously mistakes. Flyers often combine them with things like introductory credit card offers and special deals to their advantage.
There’s guy who’s a legend in FF circles. Known as the “Pudding Guy”, he found a deal from Healthy Choice offering 500 airline miles for every UPC code sent in. In addition there was a 2X earlybird bonus. The guy shopped around until he found the cheapest Health Choice item he could, pudding cups a discount grocery was selling for 25 cents each. He bought up all the pudding cups he could find, over 12,000 for a little over $3000. Now he was faced with peeling off and sending in all those UPCs, so in an additional stroke of genius he made a deal with the local Salvation Army. Volunteers would peel off all the UPCs in exchange for all the pudding.
In the end he paid a bit over $3,000 for $800 in tax deductions, frequent flyer miles valued at over $150,000 and gold elite airline status for life. Smart guy. People have been looking for the next pudding guy deal ever since.
BTW, I spotted a typo in my post #92-“discreet” should read “discrete”, although considering the venue for the visit perhaps “discreet” is apt!
I remember the pudding guy! I didn’t remember the details, but I remember looking around for those pudding cups, with no luck. I have heard sometimes you can get some pretty great deals with the airline shopping websites that give miles for things you’d get anyways, but I’ve never seen something that was really worth it. I figure they probably price the stuff up. Let me know if you ever hear of any pudding style deals, please! I am pretty cheap and always looking for a good deal, as far as travel goes.
Not really replicable, but a way we worked the system-
When we built our house we made a deal with the builder. We would buy the building materials directly from the local lumberyard they usually purchased from.
Because we were buying in such bulk the lumberyard was willing to give us the builder’s discount.
Because it meant they wouldn’t have to wait a billing cycle to recoup their money the builder was happy to let us purchase materials directly.
Because we timed our purchases we got more time to pay off the bills than if we had to pay the builder.
Because we used a couple of credit cards with good introductory FF deals we took a family trip to Europe, all flight paid for with the FF miles we earned!
“Lounge hitchhikers” (also called “door lice”). People who wait around at the entry to an airline lounge hoping to be guested by a stranger."
ive never seen nor heard of this. I get trying to get your family members / traveling companions in, but someone just lurking? No thanks!
Incredible deal, Sue. An entire family to Europe for those purchases that you were going to have to pay for anyways? Awesome.
For those who were stranded by their airline, by Jonas (or really any weather event), it sounds like you can get quite a bit of travel reimbursement for certain costs, depending upon what credit card you bought your ticket on. This isn’t something I’d normally think of, but if you can get some money to alleviate the misery of getting stranded, why not look into it? I wonder if Hayden can get something for all the costs she incurred.
http://dealswelike.boardingarea.com/2016/01/25/stranded-from-blizzard-jonah/
Got my money back! It took a while and still no apologies but we are even for money.