Air Travel

This vocabulary will help you when you are in other countries' airport. Let's put it into practice with exercises.

Activities:

1)   Choose the correct word.

Example:  When you get off / on the plane, the cabin crew will tell you where your seat is.

1   Have you filled in / through your  immigration form?

2   I like flying but I do always feel nervous as the plane takes up / off.

3   I’ll wait outside Arrivals and you could pick me out / up there.

4   If you could drop me off / out outside Arrivals, you could then go and park the car.

5   I love that wave of really hot air you feel as you get off / on the plane in a hot country.

6   I checked out / in online so I already know my seat number.

2)  Complete the words in the sentences .

Example:  The cabin crew’s job is to look after the passengers on the plane.

1   Have your b________ pass to show at the gate.

2   Is this the baggage r________ for passengers arriving from Amsterdam?

3   I don’t mind having an a________ seat but I’d prefer to sit by the window.

4   I don’t like flying long distances but I enjoy short-h________ flights.

5   You can’t take large bottles of liquid through s________.

6   I find jet l_______ worse when I fly from New York to London.

7   There were very long queues at passport c________ last night.

8   We l________ on the runway so smoothly I didn’t even feel it. 

Read the article about perceptions of risk between men and women when driving. Five sentences have been removed. Choose from the sentences A-F the one which fits each gap (1-5). There is one extra sentence you do not need to use.

The ultimate frequent flyer

Jack Vroom, an American businessman from Dallas, Texas, has made a claim as the ultimate frequent flyer. In a period of 20 years, he estimates that he flew a staggering 38 million miles. (----1-----) But after having flown enough times to go round the world 1,600 times, Mr Vroom has now been banned from flying on American Airlines.

Mr Vroom’s adventure began in 1988, when a friend told him about a unique opportunity.(---2---). For a fee of $350,000 plus interest, the ticket-holder and one companion could fly first-class anywhere, whenever they wanted, and as much as they wanted. On top of that, the ticket holder could also collect airmiles each time they flew. Although they were expensive, American Airlines sold a total of 40 tickets, before they stopped issuing them in 2004.

The pass was designed mostly for business use, but Jack Vroom decided to use it all the time. The AAirpass quickly paid for itself. He would fly across the USA to watch his son play American football at university, or to pick up his father-in-law from Washington DC so he could babysit his children. (----3----) He would also go abroad too, often just for a few hours. He flew to Milan to pick up some parts for a motorbike, and to Guadalajara, Mexico, just to buy some belts. Mr Vroom flew so often that he knew the planes better than most of the cabin crews. He didn’t even need to show his pass, and everyone at his local airport knew him by name.

His adventure came to end, though, in 2009 on a flight back from London. He had used his companion pass to fly his daughter’s friend back to the US, but when they arrived at Heathrow airport, Mr Vroom was taken to the VIP lounge and was given a letter saying that he could never use the ticket again. Although he believes he hadn’t done anything wrong, American Airlines disagreed. When they checked who he was flying with, they noticed he booked trips with people he had never flown with before. They also noticed he would fly to far-away destinations in Europe and Asia, but only stay for a few hours.(----4----). His frequent flying was also costing the airline millions of dollars a year.

Mr Vroom disagrees with the decision, and believes there was nothing written anywhere which said he wasn’t allowed to gain compensation from his companion ticket. (----5----)

These days, Mr Vroom stays on the ground, working as a teacher and giving lectures in his house in the city of Dallas in the United States.

A  He told friends it was cheaper than paying for a local babysitter.

B  Even more amazingly, he did this without paying for any of the flights.

C  They accused him of selling his companion ticket, which was against the rules

D  The pass was sold to wealthy passengers only.

E   American Airlines were selling an unlimited, life-long first-class travel pass called the AAirpass

F   He believes that any money made was for his business services, or simply because friends wanted to pay him for the flight.

Remember to check the answers in the entry called Answers!