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Now Boarding Group D as in Death?
So, I was next to the AS gate at PHX when the GA said Now Boarding Group B as in Barrel, can't remember what he said for C and then Group D as in Death.
Maybe he said Depth but multiple of us heard Death. Really? I don't fly AS - is the "letter boarding zone" thing an AS thing or VX thing? Seems better to use numbers since it would be easier for non-English speakers if nothing else - and avoid things like this... |
The switch to a letter scheme took place in July 2018.
D as in Death... :D |
Originally Posted by RAD_PDX
(Post 31430978)
The switch to a letter scheme took place in July 2018.
D as in Death... :D D as in "DELTA" :p James |
I have noticed lately that the GA have been trying to lighten things up by announcing group numbers like “B, beautiful..”. I wasn’t there but I very much doubt they said “D..death”. However you bring up a good point, just stay to the basics...A, B, C, D...that way there never be any misinterpretation...🙄 |
If they're going to use letter boarding groups, they really should make the GAs stick with the phonetic alphabet, as is standard across the industry. Of course, Delta is a competitor so maybe they don't want to give them any more free press.
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Originally Posted by Flying for Fun
(Post 31431076)
Maybe she wanted to refrain from using the Phonetic Alphabet.
D as in "DELTA" :p James |
I've heard 'A as in awesome' before, although I never stuck around the gate long enough to hear D announced. Perhaps they should go with 'D as in delightful' to stick with the positive theme. There do seem to be a lot of words to avoid starting with D. In addition to Death, I would be a bit hesitant to hear Dive, Dirigible, Donor, Danger, Disaster.....
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Originally Posted by zymm
(Post 31432308)
I've heard 'A as in awesome' before, although I never stuck around the gate long enough to hear D announced. Perhaps they should go with 'D as in delightful' to stick with the positive theme. There do seem to be a lot of words to avoid starting with D. In addition to Death, I would be a bit hesitant to hear Dive, Dirigible, Donor, Danger, Disaster.....
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I most often hear: Awesome, Beautiful, Charming, and Delightful. I did recently hear a different set of words that were thematically linked (food, maybe?), but I don’t remember exactly. It could be that the context of A-C would have helped us better understand what was used for D in this particular instance. |
Originally Posted by twitch76
(Post 31432360)
I most often hear: Awesome, Beautiful, Charming, and Delightful. I did recently hear a different set of words that were thematically linked (food, maybe?), but I don’t remember exactly. It could be that the context of A-C would have helped us better understand what was used for D in this particular instance. |
It might be a policitally correct move to avoid common Western European origin names: A as in Andrew, B as in Bob, C for Charlie, D for David, etc. |
Perhaps it was “D as in Deft.” I rather doubt it was, but less dark at least. |
Originally Posted by sltlyamusd
(Post 31432579)
Perhaps it was “D as in Deft.” I rather doubt it was, but less dark at least. That would sound a lot like D as in Deaf, which might not be a good look for AS either. |
It's too bad they can't use the phonetic alphabet due to the word being Delta - those words were all chosen for good reason, they're very distinct.
I used to do phone tech support as an internship during college and would sometimes have to read out passwords to people. Our team used to always just pick random words because there was no official policy. Eventually someone found the phonetic alphabet and we all started using that because it was so much easier. My guess is that Alaska didn't give them any specific training on words to use with the announcement. I've seen some do the "A as in Awesome..." route (that's as far as I usually make it) but those gate agents may have just come up with that on their own, or shared between themselves. In this case, maybe he meant "depth" or he just thought "death" would be amusing but yeah, not a good call. |
I'll presume "depth". The standard phonetic alphabet is effective but businesslike. I find it likable when gate agents use creative fun words. So they may miss the mark occasionally, I still find that better than Sierra Oscar Sierra all the time.
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