What's a Kettle?
Mar 18, 2012 | 10:31 pm
#106
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Atherton, CA
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP; Owner, Green Bay Packers
Posts: 21,685
The whole Gate Lice thing has me perplexed.
How do you walk the fine line of getting on board with your proper group (F/J/Elite) and thus avoid mobs of non-elites/Ys?
You wait just a little too long and you get wedged in with the crowd, you get to the boarding lane too early and you are a gate louse and someone on FT will talk about you later that day and you will be ridiculed by other FTers for being a Gate Louse.
How do you walk the fine line of getting on board with your proper group (F/J/Elite) and thus avoid mobs of non-elites/Ys?
You wait just a little too long and you get wedged in with the crowd, you get to the boarding lane too early and you are a gate louse and someone on FT will talk about you later that day and you will be ridiculed by other FTers for being a Gate Louse.
Mar 19, 2012 | 6:34 am
#107
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,096
I was at LHR yesterday, and heard an announcement over the PA asking parents specifically to keep their children from playing on the escalators. We need some similar announcements in the US!
Mar 19, 2012 | 12:57 pm
#108
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Newport Beach, California, USA
Posts: 36,062
We speak often of "The Kettles". I was wondering who they were. Some possibilities:
1. once in a lifetime family fliers (as implied by the name)
2. sub-silvers
3. frequent flyers who are indifferent to loyalty programs
4. non-US international travelers (much harder to get FF status on a US carrier if based overseas)
5. DL/AA/US/WN frequent flyers.
I was recently a Kettle on AA, having had the travel booked by another company's travel department. It was in domestic F so it really wasn't that bad.
1. once in a lifetime family fliers (as implied by the name)
2. sub-silvers
3. frequent flyers who are indifferent to loyalty programs
4. non-US international travelers (much harder to get FF status on a US carrier if based overseas)
5. DL/AA/US/WN frequent flyers.
I was recently a Kettle on AA, having had the travel booked by another company's travel department. It was in domestic F so it really wasn't that bad.
Mar 20, 2012 | 10:22 am
#111
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Home Airports: CAE/CLT
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, National Executive
Posts: 5,460
OK, I got behind a couple of kettles the other morning at SWF.
-They were suprised by needing to produce a photo ID at the start of the screening line.
-The wife waited for her husband before moving forward to the plastic bins. There is only one line open and there was no one in front of them. All of their sheenanigans caused a bit of a traffic jam. It took me >10 minutes to get through, when it should have taken a couple.
-They asked 4 times what needed to come out of the carryon and what could stay.
-They wound up unpacking their carryons and putting EVERYTHING into the bins.
-After that the man had coins in his pocket and had to be rescreened.
-Then they had no idea how they got all of this stuff into the carryons in the first place and they were still trying to repack long after I cleared, got my loafers back on and was on my way to the gate.
-They were suprised by needing to produce a photo ID at the start of the screening line.
-The wife waited for her husband before moving forward to the plastic bins. There is only one line open and there was no one in front of them. All of their sheenanigans caused a bit of a traffic jam. It took me >10 minutes to get through, when it should have taken a couple.
-They asked 4 times what needed to come out of the carryon and what could stay.
-They wound up unpacking their carryons and putting EVERYTHING into the bins.
-After that the man had coins in his pocket and had to be rescreened.
-Then they had no idea how they got all of this stuff into the carryons in the first place and they were still trying to repack long after I cleared, got my loafers back on and was on my way to the gate.
Mar 20, 2012 | 10:37 am
#113
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Bay Area
Programs: WN A-List, AA good-riddance, Safeway Club Card Extraordinaire
Posts: 3,851
Screener (points at first bag): Are there any liquids in here?
Woman: Sorry, what?
Screener: Any liquids in this bag?
Woman: (thinks)... Yes.
The woman's husband proceeds to undo the mess of knots holding the bag together and unpack the entire thing, eventually hauling out a couple bottles of perfume... then some hot sauce... then a water bottle... then a couple cans of soda... and so on until the bag's contents (which evidently were largely bottles of liquids) were strewn all over the belt.
And then the screener points to the second bag. "Any liquids in here?"
"Yes."
Process repeats itself for the second, and third, and fourth bags. It took them over 20 minutes to get through. I didn't stick around to see how long it took them to re-pack everything on the other side though
Mar 20, 2012 | 11:14 am
#114
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: UA 1P
Posts: 545
Now that my parents are getting up there in years, I find that I have a lot more patience with confused travelers than I did even a few years ago.
There will always be dumb people who screw up and have the potential to annoy me, but I always try to project how I would feel if it were my 80 year old dad ahead of me in line. It helps my mood and my blood pressure.
There will always be dumb people who screw up and have the potential to annoy me, but I always try to project how I would feel if it were my 80 year old dad ahead of me in line. It helps my mood and my blood pressure.
Mar 20, 2012 | 12:01 pm
#115
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: NYC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 1,424
Now that my parents are getting up there in years, I find that I have a lot more patience with confused travelers than I did even a few years ago.
There will always be dumb people who screw up and have the potential to annoy me, but I always try to project how I would feel if it were my 80 year old dad ahead of me in line. It helps my mood and my blood pressure.
There will always be dumb people who screw up and have the potential to annoy me, but I always try to project how I would feel if it were my 80 year old dad ahead of me in line. It helps my mood and my blood pressure.
I too have elderly parents and I know they struggle to get through checkin, security, and boarding when they fly.
However, they managed to successfully raise 7 happy, college-educated kids.
I assume they have skills that transcend those required to efficiently pass through a customer-unfriendly airport experience.
Mar 20, 2012 | 3:04 pm
#117
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S+, Choice Platinum
Posts: 23,319
I once played elevator attendant at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers for an afternoon. My mother was horrified to discover my grandfather had left a nine-year-old alone in a large hotel, solely in the care of Mr. Otis...
Jul 23, 2013 | 8:44 pm
#119
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Atherton, CA
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP; Owner, Green Bay Packers
Posts: 21,685
Jul 23, 2013 | 8:56 pm
#120
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: PIT
Programs: OZ Diamond, TK Elite, UA Refugee
Posts: 11,011
I am pretty new to this forum and, despite getting a lot out of it, I have to admit that I am pretty sensitive to the use of the term Kettle.
I realize that many members here are in the air several times a week and the inexperienced traveler can be quite annoying but at what point do you consider someone no longer a kettle?
Is it based on how many flights they have under their belt? How proficient they are at maneuvering in the airport? Do you assume that anyone flying with children, or for that matter, flying in economy, a kettle?
For example, the kids and I fly through the TSA checkpoint faster than even some experienced looking business travelers. We each have an assignment to speed us through such as I grab the laptop and 3-1-1 while my son grabs two bins (one for the laptop and one for my shoes and 3-1-1) The stroller is folded and through the x-ray before the woman next to me figured out that she is wearing too much jewelry or that "take everything out of your pockets" includes your cell phone and loose change.
So, what is your definition of a non-kettle?
I realize that many members here are in the air several times a week and the inexperienced traveler can be quite annoying but at what point do you consider someone no longer a kettle?
Is it based on how many flights they have under their belt? How proficient they are at maneuvering in the airport? Do you assume that anyone flying with children, or for that matter, flying in economy, a kettle?
For example, the kids and I fly through the TSA checkpoint faster than even some experienced looking business travelers. We each have an assignment to speed us through such as I grab the laptop and 3-1-1 while my son grabs two bins (one for the laptop and one for my shoes and 3-1-1) The stroller is folded and through the x-ray before the woman next to me figured out that she is wearing too much jewelry or that "take everything out of your pockets" includes your cell phone and loose change.
So, what is your definition of a non-kettle?
If you can get through the airport without me having to roll my eyes at you, you're above a kettle