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Priority Boarding - is this a record?
Boarding AC31 (YYZ-PEK) today, gate agents opened up one lane for exec/priority and another for people with infants/needing extra time
At the front of the second queue was mom, dad, infant in stroller, another family member, another family member.... eventually the gate agent stopped them and said: "wait, all of you are with this one infant?" The answer came back "yes, there are nine of us." Cut to the jetbridge - it turns out that mom can't figure out how to fold stroller. No sign of any of the other eight adults who have all raced ahead to take their seats. Luckily there are two flight attendants who help her figure it out while the rest of us wait patiently. |
Just wait till the impact of air India is felt!
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Absolutely ridiculous.:mad:
2 adults, possibly 3, to accompany an infant/child (under the age of 4-5; not 18!) should be the absolute maximum. |
Originally Posted by Bonaventure
(Post 23364038)
Just wait till the impact of air India is felt!
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Originally Posted by mkjr
(Post 23364355)
what exactly do you mean by this comment?
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Originally Posted by Bonaventure
(Post 23364038)
Just wait till the impact of air India is felt!
(Offloading was a bit of a push - the norm for most Asian carriers in cattle class) |
I've seen the 40 or so wheelchairs lined up in Toronto to India.
I thought it was just some special event for special needs people. After I read here that it is pretty normal for flights to and from India. There are certainly cultural differences when you travel. Just as there are some countries where you will have to be prepared to politely stand on the correct side of the escalator and not ever talk on your mobile phone in public, there are some countries where "queue" is not in the language and to the bold, brave, and strong who can push hard enough, you will get to the front of the line. Russia, India, China, seem to be places where, let's call it "initiative"... is what gets you what you want and if you are polite about some things then you may end up waiting permanently. The same kinds of things in England and Japan just won't happen. It's not about race but different cultures have different values and approaches to solving the problems of shared resources. In some, they go to the strong and those with the will to take them. In others, you sit quietly and wait your turn until it comes up. After visiting Russia, I learned that one must never show any sign of weakness in any "queue" or else a babushka will cut your throat. They are masters. You can't beat the old school Soviet queue training. I've also been in Thailand and watched a guy from India waltz in front of an Australian in line. There was a gap. Australian guy opened up both barrels screaming at the guy for jumping the line. Indian guy looked back like, "Are you mad? There was a gap there. Gaps are to be filled!" Show. No. Weakness. My biggest nightmare scenario was standing in line trying to get out of Moscow with a couple of flights leaving for Turkmenistan. I got there 4 hours early but of course they don't let you check in until 2 hours in advance. I swear I looked down and looked up at 1:59 and the queue had manifested itself out of thin air from nothing to 40 people deep. I knew I was out of my league at this point. 30 minutes to clear that queue and then to passport control with the Turkmen. This was 90 minutes of a funnel shaped "queue" pushing and shoving hard to get to the passport officer. Of course no cattle corral, that would make too much sense, just 8 funnels pointed at 8 customs booths. I made the mistake of letting in a shoulder sized gap once and this got me wedged aside. I knew at this point that any guys walking up to talk to their buddy in front of me were competition, so I had to keep chest to back contact with the guy in front of me. This also helped maintain stability from the ongoing surge behind me. 90 minutes to almost clear this queue and I was still four behind. I managed to flag down a passing agent and said my flight was about to leave, and they pulled me to the front, cleared me through. I was then yelled twice by agents for the airline as I passed security and ran to my gate and once again at the door of the aircraft because I was late. This is just being caught up in cultures that have different values. If you want to get to the front of the line in this situation, if you wait politely and mind your own business you will be stuck in Russia and have a visa overstay and be dealing with people you don't want to be dealing with. So "you must to push". I invite you to watch the people making their mad dash out of the plane in Moscow headed for the stainless steel cattle corals, dodging and diving underneath. I swear I have almost seen grannies do a Luke Duke and jump and slide over these things just to get one person ahead. To them it's normal. You try to check in to a flight say in Dubai when a plane load of people are heading to Russia, woe to you if you are in business class. Because those people will see the empty line at security for business class and though they hold an economy ticket they will fill it up. Japanese won't do it but Russians will. Why not? They say... nobody is going to tell them not to and if they do it then they go first. To them, it's smart and you are stupid if you go to the short line. To us, it's rude. People who are familiar with this way of doing things, import their behavior to other cultures where what they consider smart, clever and sometimes necessary, is considered rude and inappropriate. Eventually everything falls to the lowest common denominator as these people out-compete the polite. |
Originally Posted by tyberius
(Post 23367119)
I've seen the 40 or so wheelchairs lined up in Toronto to India.
It's a miracle! Praise the lord! |
Originally Posted by tyberius
(Post 23367119)
Show. No. Weakness.
30 minutes to clear that queue and then to passport control with the Turkmen. This was 90 minutes of a funnel shaped "queue" pushing and shoving hard to get to the passport officer. Of course no cattle corral, that would make too much sense, just 8 funnels pointed at 8 customs booths. I made the mistake of letting in a shoulder sized gap once and this got me wedged aside. I knew at this point that any guys walking up to talk to their buddy in front of me were competition, so I had to keep chest to back contact with the guy in front of me. This also helped maintain stability from the ongoing surge behind me. |
Originally Posted by Jasper2009
(Post 23364339)
Absolutely ridiculous.:mad:
2 adults, possibly 3, to accompany an infant/child (under the age of 4-5; not 18!) should be the absolute maximum. I know other posters have highlighted cultural differences, and having been to China, I do understand that in some places queuing is 'optional'. However, this incident was in Canada, and we also need to stand up for our own cultural norms, especially when there are very good rational reasons as to why we have them (ie. taking care of young children, the elderly and infirm). I live in Singapore now and they take their queuing very, very seriously (not always the case in their history) and as more and more PRC immigrants come to the country, Singaporeans are fighting hard to maintain their queuing culture. |
Originally Posted by tyberius
(Post 23367119)
I've seen the 40 or so wheelchairs lined up in Toronto to India.
I thought it was just some special event for special needs people. After I read here that it is pretty normal for flights to and from India. There are certainly cultural differences when you travel. Just as there are some countries where you will have to be prepared to politely stand on the correct side of the escalator and not ever talk on your mobile phone in public, there are some countries where "queue" is not in the language and to the bold, brave, and strong who can push hard enough, you will get to the front of the line. Russia, India, China, seem to be places where, let's call it "initiative"... is what gets you what you want and if you are polite about some things then you may end up waiting permanently. The same kinds of things in England and Japan just won't happen. It's not about race but different cultures have different values and approaches to solving the problems of shared resources. In some, they go to the strong and those with the will to take them. In others, you sit quietly and wait your turn until it comes up. After visiting Russia, I learned that one must never show any sign of weakness in any "queue" or else a babushka will cut your throat. They are masters. You can't beat the old school Soviet queue training. I've also been in Thailand and watched a guy from India waltz in front of an Australian in line. There was a gap. Australian guy opened up both barrels screaming at the guy for jumping the line. Indian guy looked back like, "Are you mad? There was a gap there. Gaps are to be filled!" Show. No. Weakness. My biggest nightmare scenario was standing in line trying to get out of Moscow with a couple of flights leaving for Turkmenistan. I got there 4 hours early but of course they don't let you check in until 2 hours in advance. I swear I looked down and looked up at 1:59 and the queue had manifested itself out of thin air from nothing to 40 people deep. I knew I was out of my league at this point. 30 minutes to clear that queue and then to passport control with the Turkmen. This was 90 minutes of a funnel shaped "queue" pushing and shoving hard to get to the passport officer. Of course no cattle corral, that would make too much sense, just 8 funnels pointed at 8 customs booths. I made the mistake of letting in a shoulder sized gap once and this got me wedged aside. I knew at this point that any guys walking up to talk to their buddy in front of me were competition, so I had to keep chest to back contact with the guy in front of me. This also helped maintain stability from the ongoing surge behind me. 90 minutes to almost clear this queue and I was still four behind. I managed to flag down a passing agent and said my flight was about to leave, and they pulled me to the front, cleared me through. I was then yelled twice by agents for the airline as I passed security and ran to my gate and once again at the door of the aircraft because I was late. This is just being caught up in cultures that have different values. If you want to get to the front of the line in this situation, if you wait politely and mind your own business you will be stuck in Russia and have a visa overstay and be dealing with people you don't want to be dealing with. So "you must to push". I invite you to watch the people making their mad dash out of the plane in Moscow headed for the stainless steel cattle corals, dodging and diving underneath. I swear I have almost seen grannies do a Luke Duke and jump and slide over these things just to get one person ahead. To them it's normal. You try to check in to a flight say in Dubai when a plane load of people are heading to Russia, woe to you if you are in business class. Because those people will see the empty line at security for business class and though they hold an economy ticket they will fill it up. Japanese won't do it but Russians will. Why not? They say... nobody is going to tell them not to and if they do it then they go first. To them, it's smart and you are stupid if you go to the short line. To us, it's rude. People who are familiar with this way of doing things, import their behavior to other cultures where what they consider smart, clever and sometimes necessary, is considered rude and inappropriate. Eventually everything falls to the lowest common denominator as these people out-compete the polite. And of course we have our own. Tedgrrrr for instance. |
Originally Posted by tyberius
(Post 23367119)
I've seen the 40 or so wheelchairs lined up in Toronto to India.
I thought it was just some special event for special needs people. After I read here that it is pretty normal for flights to and from India. There are certainly cultural differences when you travel. Just as there are some countries where you will have to be prepared to politely stand on the correct side of the escalator and not ever talk on your mobile phone in public, there are some countries where "queue" is not in the language and to the bold, brave, and strong who can push hard enough, you will get to the front of the line. Russia, India, China, seem to be places where, let's call it "initiative"... is what gets you what you want and if you are polite about some things then you may end up waiting permanently. The same kinds of things in England and Japan just won't happen. It's not about race but different cultures have different values and approaches to solving the problems of shared resources. In some, they go to the strong and those with the will to take them. In others, you sit quietly and wait your turn until it comes up. After visiting Russia, I learned that one must never show any sign of weakness in any "queue" or else a babushka will cut your throat. They are masters. You can't beat the old school Soviet queue training. I've also been in Thailand and watched a guy from India waltz in front of an Australian in line. There was a gap. Australian guy opened up both barrels screaming at the guy for jumping the line. Indian guy looked back like, "Are you mad? There was a gap there. Gaps are to be filled!" Show. No. Weakness. My biggest nightmare scenario was standing in line trying to get out of Moscow with a couple of flights leaving for Turkmenistan. I got there 4 hours early but of course they don't let you check in until 2 hours in advance. I swear I looked down and looked up at 1:59 and the queue had manifested itself out of thin air from nothing to 40 people deep. I knew I was out of my league at this point. 30 minutes to clear that queue and then to passport control with the Turkmen. This was 90 minutes of a funnel shaped "queue" pushing and shoving hard to get to the passport officer. Of course no cattle corral, that would make too much sense, just 8 funnels pointed at 8 customs booths. I made the mistake of letting in a shoulder sized gap once and this got me wedged aside. I knew at this point that any guys walking up to talk to their buddy in front of me were competition, so I had to keep chest to back contact with the guy in front of me. This also helped maintain stability from the ongoing surge behind me. 90 minutes to almost clear this queue and I was still four behind. I managed to flag down a passing agent and said my flight was about to leave, and they pulled me to the front, cleared me through. I was then yelled twice by agents for the airline as I passed security and ran to my gate and once again at the door of the aircraft because I was late. This is just being caught up in cultures that have different values. If you want to get to the front of the line in this situation, if you wait politely and mind your own business you will be stuck in Russia and have a visa overstay and be dealing with people you don't want to be dealing with. So "you must to push". I invite you to watch the people making their mad dash out of the plane in Moscow headed for the stainless steel cattle corals, dodging and diving underneath. I swear I have almost seen grannies do a Luke Duke and jump and slide over these things just to get one person ahead. To them it's normal. You try to check in to a flight say in Dubai when a plane load of people are heading to Russia, woe to you if you are in business class. Because those people will see the empty line at security for business class and though they hold an economy ticket they will fill it up. Japanese won't do it but Russians will. Why not? They say... nobody is going to tell them not to and if they do it then they go first. To them, it's smart and you are stupid if you go to the short line. To us, it's rude. People who are familiar with this way of doing things, import their behavior to other cultures where what they consider smart, clever and sometimes necessary, is considered rude and inappropriate. Eventually everything falls to the lowest common denominator as these people out-compete the polite. :) |
Originally Posted by HangTen
(Post 23367830)
An excellent post.
:) |
LOL. Biggest I've seen is 1 younger kid come with 4 adults and 3 more kids who can walk and don't need hand holding. At least one of the adults from the entourage helped with folding the stroller and, as expected, everyone else went for their seats.
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I. Love. This. Thread.
It's tremendous. When you go to the US airports have you noticed most of them contract out wheelchairing? Seems there's always less of em there. But I have definitely seen the 10-15 wheelchairs coming down the bridge at YVR or YYZ offloading a host of people who don't really need them, same with the golf carts driving through the terminal. It's a courtesy and whatever, but it's a bit much. I'm far too polite in some situations. In Canada, I think we've got it down to a science. Each person says "no you go ahead" and then someone just goes to stop the cycle. It's dumb but we all get it. The US I find to be fairly similar outside of my experiences in LA/NY where it's very "me first". Anyone travelled to Colombia? Lines? What lines? 2 lanes of traffic always means 3 cars across. If there's 12 inches wide a motorcycle will fill that space at a red light. Wanna get on the metro? Why wait for anyone to get off first? That just means your seat will get taken. Man sitting down, woman holding infant standing? I'll offer to take your bag, but I'm not giving up my seat. It's so strange to watch. I'm always on vacation there, so I let it slide, but I've learned I'm a bit more forceful when it comes to lines, I don't take from anyone but I also don't take it too seriously. This lineup/preboard thing though is just the same as anything, we're all different. It's kinda fun to watch sometimes. You might ask for a fork to eat rice, someone else uses chopsticks, someone else uses a leaf, and someone else uses his bare hand. We've all got our different customs. The baby allowed to crap in the plane? Are you kidding me? But from some stories I've heard regarding mainland China, public defecation isn't really that out of line (at least for kids, I've always heard it regarding <6 year olds roughly). Point is, you gotta play the game. If they call pre-boards, take your place in that line and know that even though they (this family of 3-4 or 29) might slow you down, you'll be getting off the plane first. those people who can't operate their own gear. As a former baggage handler, it was bad enough to carry 10-12 strollers down a flight of wobbly stairs, which included the 4 baby combo stroller, the HUMMER brand stroller with offroading wheels, the stroller that folds but doesn't lock, but there's always one person who can't figure theirs out...you shouldn't be using it then. |
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