OK - I know this is going to devolve into a rant, but stick with me for at least a minute or two.

I have become increasingly annoyed by the seemingly massive proliferation of electric carts at airports - particularly DFW. After all, airport terminals were designed to be pedestrian passageways and - comically - they've become overrun with carts and their drivers yelling "watch out for the cart" as if I have done something wrong as a pedestrian. I am totally fine with elderly or disabled passengers catching a lift to their flight. However, a vast majority of passengers on carts seem to suffer from the uniquely American disabilities of obesity and laziness - both of which would be aided by walking rather than riding between gates.

Today - May 29, 2012 - I was nearly crushed by a cart in the D terminal by a driver who was texting on his cell phone while driving and veering. I was walking on the right side of the walkway in the D30s (toward the D20s) when the cart (passengerless) was veering right. As I saw it out of the corner of my eye and darted further right to avoid it, I noticed the driver holding the steering wheel with one hand and his cell phone with the other while typing. Absolutely insane.

Next time you're at DFW, keep your eye out. This wasn't the first time I saw cart drivers clutching their phones while driving (although it was the first time I was directly affected by it).

I have noticed this at various airports as well. I guess there is no one policing the cart drivers and their safe driving.

As this isn't specific to AA (it seems to be more about operations at DFW airport), it is being moved to a more appropriate forum.

/Moderator

I agree with you. And might have felt compelled to yell at that driver.

(Or maybe not - I'm all talk. But still, unacceptable.)

Since the opening of the Skylink train at DFW, the carts should have been gotten rid of totally. The electric carts are not only annoying, they are one of the most dangerous things at the airport. The elderly and disabled should be put in wheelchairs, pushed to their gate (if in the same terminal) or pushed to an elevator and taken up to the train platform, wheeled onto the train and taken to their gate -- in other words, they should get where they're going essentially like everyone else. That's what disability activists agitated for all those years, right? To be treated like everyone else, to have the same access as everyone else? The Skylink train was DESIGNED to be used by the disabled.

It's when we make being disabled the ticket to special services (like the golf carts at DFW) that we incentivize (hate that word, but there you have it) others to self-identify as disabled in order to make use of such services as being driven directly to your gate in an electric golf cart.

Spare a thought for us out in Florida. Virtually everyone (ok that's a slight exaggeration) talks and texts while driving. It's perfectly legal here but highly dangerous.

As laid back as I am, obviously far more so than many FTers, the sight of a cart driver texting would send me straight to toward attempting to ID a cart # and in any case to the AA service desk or my keyboard to fire off an inflammatory complaint.

Even with Skylink, there remain too many carts and cart trips, most of the seats filled by folks who have no real "entitlement" for claiming use of the service. Whuile I don't agree with a poster above who wants them to go away entirely, I'd like some trip reductions, admittedly unlikely while so many of us remain pompously and arrogantly convinced of our own self-importance and entitlement.

But then here, among folk who present themselves as gaping, flaming ani entitled to exclusive use of the overhead bin above their seats, joined by blivets in Y who leave their bags in F, there are more potential pax to be carted than safety allows.

I just saw this happen in CLT. Just packed with people and she was texting away.

We did enjoy a pleasant surprise the time AA sent the cart to pick us up on our connection to FRA. We were on a first/business award ticket, and I had EXP status at the time. It was totally unnecessary --- we are well able to walk, and there wasn't a tight connection. However, it's the most unexpected and delightful VIP perk we've received from AA.

Sorry if we ran you over.

So what is the best response to a cart driver who expects something from an airport customer? We have a right to be there, too...

Not sure what question you're asking. Can you provide more context?

Aggressive behavior by cart drivers - described in the first post of this thread, above