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.

You're on the moving sidewalk, taking pictures of the widebodies blocking it in front of you? Do they know? If they know, do they realize why you're photographing them? Do they mind?

At DEN, the parents like to let their kids play on the moving sidewalks, which is a Kettleish thing to do as there are people trying to get somewhere.

:eek:

I haven't noticed that as much in DEN, but I can definitely see that happening. There are many times that they will let the kids also play on the escalators (running up the down...)

Having injured a knee this fall, I was a 'stander' for a few weeks. But your comment here made me laugh and remember taking my kids to MKE for a 'field trip' when they were young. We went just to see planes land and take off, ride the escalators, elevators, and moving walkways and eat ice cream :) They thought it was a lot of fun.

And this has been pretty much my experience at SFO every time I fly (and it's annoying as he|| :mad:)

Always makes me wonder why the person/people stuck immediately behind them don't just say "excuse me, please." It's worked 100% of the time for me.

That's what I do -- in a very loud voice. And if I get attitude from the walkway blockers, I tell them, "This is an airport, not Disneyland!"

I do have sympathy for the elderly and for people trying to escort their small children and their luggage within the confined space. A few years ago at SFO I happened to be nearby and first to assist a woman who fell as she tried to exit the walkway with her walker. Fortunately she wasn't hurt.

Haven't you seen the sign at SFO?

Do not move while on the walkway. Stand toward the middle. Do not place hand luggage behind you. Traveling companions must stand next to each other at all times.

I haven't spotted it yet either, but I'm sure it must be posted somewhere. :p

I have no idea if it is related in any way or not, but in Russia a kettle is used to signify a beginner or inexperienced person.

(It is a teapot, or "chainik" in Russian. But the word "chainik" is also typically used for kettle).

It is so widely used that new drivers often put a card with a symbol of a kettle in their back window (in a "baby on board" style) to warn other drivers that they are inexperienced. And you can call anybody a "chainik" to indicate that they have no idea what they are doing. It would be absolutely normal to say that somebody is a "chainik" in the airport if they had no idea where they are going or what they should do.

Who are the Kettles?
 

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.

According to Wikipedia:

Kettles are fluvioglacial landforms occurring as the result of blocks of ice calving from the front of a receding glacier and becoming partially to wholly buried by glacial outwash. :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_(landform)

Also, Ma and Pa Kettle are comic film characters of the successful film series of the same name, produced by Universal Studios, in the late '40s and '50s. They are a hillbilly couple with fifteen children whose lives turn upside-down when they win a model-home-of-the-future in a slogan-writing contest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_and_Pa_Kettle

I don't think it has to do with status, or with cabin. Kettle are those who are unfamiliar with and unprepared for the flying experience. You'll see them repacking at the ticket counter when surprised by fees for overweight or extra pieces of luggage. You'll see them in the security lanes with large bottles of liquids. You'll see them becoming gate lice, trying to board well before their group is called. You'll see them not stowing bags properly, reclining before takeoff, and surprised that the stewardess doesn't have a pillow for them.

An elite on a different airline usually isn't a kettle. A first time flyer may not be either, if they've done a little research before hand on what to expect.

6. None of the above.

At least to my mind, anyone who's inconsiderate and/or oblivious to others in crowded, transportation-related settings qualifies as a Kettle. I know several extremely-infrequent flyers that nonetheless exhibit basic awareness and don't (for example) block escalators with their luggage or stop in the middle of a busy passageway to send a text. Conversely, I've seen people with top-tier elite luggage tags behaving like they've never set foot off Pa Joad's farm.