Some airline lingo:
- Blue juice: The water in the lavatory toilet. “There’s no blue juice in the lav.”
- Crotch watch: The required check to make sure all passengers have their seatbelts fastened. Also: “groin scan.”
- Crumb crunchers: Kids. “We’ve got a lot of crumb crunchers on this flight.”
- Deadheading: When an airline employee flies as a passenger for company business.
- Gate lice: The people who gather around the gate right before boarding so they can be first on the plane. “Oh, the gate lice are thick today.”
- George: Autopilot. I’ll let George take over.”
- Landing lips: Female passengers put on their “landing lips” when they use their lipstick just before landing.
- Pax: Passengers.
- Spinners: Passengers who get on late and don’t have a seat assignment, so they spin around looking for a seat.
- Two-for-one special: The plane touches down on landing, bounces up, then touches down again.
- Working the village: Working in coach.
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Don’t ask for directions
I may be in uniform, but that doesn’t mean I’m the best person to ask for directions in the airport. We’re in so many airports that we usually have no idea. – Pilot for a regional US carrier.
We sleep in the cockpit
Do pilots sleep in [the cockpit]? Definitely. Sometimes it’s just a ten-minute catnap, but it happens. – John Greaves. They should try these 7 surprising ways to get more sleep.