Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1173, Flying on a Budget Airline.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1173.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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In this episode, we're going to talk about flying in an airplane that doesn't cost very much money.
There are some good things about that and, well, some not so good things.
Let's get started.
It's amazing that we were able to get these airline tickets so cheaply.
It's great, isn't it?
We can fly to Lauren City for a fun weekend.
Let's check in using this kiosk.
Hmm, this is asking me to pay $50 to bring a piece of luggage aboard.
I didn't realize it either.
I didn't know that the default was open seating.
Me neither.
Did you know that we're not flying directly to Lawrence City but making two stops on the way?
Oh no!
And there are other hidden fees for what they consider add-ons things we would normally get for free on other airlines.
Like a soda, snack, blanket, and in-flight entertainment?
No, that's news to me.
Here's the kicker.
We're not flying into Lawrence City Airport, but a remote airport 60 miles away.
We'll pay a lot. for ground transportation to our hotel.
Should we get a refund and forget about the trip?
Sorry, one thing I do know is that there are no refunds or changes allowed.
It doesn't seem like such a good deal now, does it?
No.
This airline has turned nickel and diming into an art form.
Our dialogue is called Flying on a Budget, B-U-D-G-E-T, Airline.
Something that is budget is something that is cheap.
So this is an airline, a company that uses airplanes to fly you from one place to another.
That doesn't cost very much money.
Well, We find out in our dialogue that that isn't always a good thing.
Anton begins by saying, Federica says, We can fly to Lawrence City for a fun weekend.
I'm not sure where Lawrence City is exactly, but it sounds like it's a great place.
Federica says, let's check in using this kiosk.
To check in is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to report for your flight or reservation and letting the company or someone know that you are ready to go or that you are going to be using this particular service.
If you fly...
Checking in usually can be done either on your computer 24 hours before you fly or at the airport.
It's telling the airline that you are there and you are going to be taking this flight.
Well, it doesn't exactly say that you're there if you check in online, but it says you will be there and you will be going on the airplane.
You can also check in at a hotel if you have a reservation.
You call the hotel and tell them you want a room.
Then when you arrive at the hotel, you can check in.
You can say, yes, I'm here.
Please give me my key.
A kiosk.
K-I-O-S-K is a small structure that could just provide information, but at an are able to give the computer the information about your flight and usually the kiosk machine can give you your boarding pass, which is a piece of paper you need to get on to the airplane.
Federica suggests to Anton that they check in using the kiosk.
Now it is still possible in most American airports to check in talking to a real live human being rather than using a machine like a kiosk.
Anton says hmm, this meaning the kiosk is asking me to pay 50 to bring a piece of luggage aboard.
A piece of luggage is something like a suitcase or a briefcase.
Aboard means on the airplane, with you.
You can either take your luggage with you as you get on the airplane, or you can give it to the airline and they will put it down on the bottom of the airplane, and then you pick it up again when you arrive.
That's called checking your luggage.
Anton says that this particular airline is going to charge him 50 to bring a piece of luggage aboard.
I didn't know there were such strict baggage restrictions, Anton says.
Baggage, B-A-G-G-A-G-E, is another word for luggage.
Restrictions are rules... and limitations, usually that prevent you from doing certain things.
In this case, the baggage restrictions for the airline say that if you want to bring a piece of luggage aboard, you have to pay 50, which is an awful lot of money.
Federica says, I didn't realize it either.
Anton continues, and We have to pay another fee, that is more money, to reserve a seat.
To reserve means to make arrangements to do something in advance.
To reserve a seat on an airplane means to select your seat so that, when you get on the airplane, that seat is already yours.
No one else can sit there.
Anton says, I didn't know that the default was open seating.
The default D-E-F-A-U-L-T of something is the normal way that this works or the normal way that something happens.
In this case, the normal way that things happen is on the airplane is open seating.
Open seating is a system where there are no seats that are reserved, or we might also say assigned A-S-S-I-G-N-E-D to someone.
Everyone just gets on the airplane and the first person who gets on gets to pick the best seat, and so forth.
No one has a reserved or assigned seat.
Federica, again, didn't realize this either.
Then Anton asks Did you know that we're not flying directly to Lawrence City but making two stops on the way?
To fly directly somewhere means to go from one city to another without stopping at a third city to get there.
For example, if you are flying from Los Angeles to New York City, you can fly directly, meaning your plane will go up in the air in Los Angeles and come down in New York City.
You could also have what are called stopovers or simply stops.
These would be places where you stop in between where you're coming from and where you want to end up.
So you might make a stop in Denver or in Minneapolis, or in Detroit or in a number of other cities in between Los Angeles and New York.
To fly directly, then, means that you don't make any stops.
You don't have what are called layovers, L-A-Y-O-V-E-R-S.
Federica wasn't aware of this either.
She didn't know they were going to be making two stops in order to get to Lawrence City.
Anton says, and there are other hidden fees for what they consider add-ons.
A hidden H-I-D-D-E-N fee is money you have to pay that you didn't realize you had to pay, usually because the company doesn't tell you directly.
An add-on would be something additional, or something that the company considers additional, things that are not included in, in this case, your airline ticket.
Anton gives a list of some of these add-ons that he and Federica will have to pay extra for things that normally you get free on an airplane, such as soda snacks, a blanket and in-flight entertainment.
In-flight means while you are flying, while you are traveling.
In-flight entertainment would be things such as TV shows music, perhaps movies, that the airline would, in many cases, give you for free, although many US airlines no longer do this.
Federica was also ignorant of this.
She says, no, that's news to me, meaning, no, I didn't know that either.
Then Anton says, here's the kicker.
A kicker.
K-I-C-K-E-R is an unexpected piece of news, an unpleasant piece of information, something that you didn't expect.
Anton says we're not flying into Lawrence City Airport, but to a remote airport 60 miles away.
A remote R-E-M-O-T-E airport would be an airport that is at a great distance from the place where you plan on visiting.
We'll pay a lot for ground transportation to our hotel, Anton says.
Ground transportation refers to the way or the means of transportation you use to get from the airport to your say, hotel.
This could include taxis, buses... trams, shuttles, subways, and so forth.
Anything that goes from the airport to where you want to go, such as a hotel.
Now that Anton knows about all these additional costs, he asks Federica, should we get a refund and forget about the trip?
A refund is when a Federica says Meaning the airline will not give you your money back if you cancel, if you decide not to go on your trip.
Anton says, The expression I should have known means had I been more intelligent or had I thought about it more, I would have realized that this was the case, that in this case, budget airlines are not always a good deal, meaning they're not always cheap because they have all these additional fees and expenses.
Federica says, no, this airline has turned nickel and diming into an art form.
A nickel, N-I-C-K-E-L, in U.S.
English, refers to a five-cent coin, a coin worth five pennies, basically.
A dime is a coin worth ten cents.
The verb to nickel and dime means to charge people lots of little fees, small fees for all sorts of things.
You don't say, well, the price is this much and includes everything.
Instead, you give the person a low price, but then you charge them for everything that the person may normally expect to be free.
This is what airlines do nowadays, at least in the U.S.
It used to be that you got a free meal on an airplane when you flew from one city to another in the US.
Nowadays you have to pay for it.
That's an example of what some people would consider nickel and diming you to charge you for every little thing.
Federica says the airline has turned nickel and diming into an art form.
To turn it into something means to make it into something.
An art form here refers to anything that requires creativity.
Federica is joking here.
She doesn't mean that the airline is actually doing something artistic when it charges you for all of these small services and products.
To turn something into an art form here means simply that the airline has become very creative in taking your money.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
It's amazing that we were able to get these airline tickets so cheaply.
It's great, isn't it?
We can fly to Lawrence City for a fun weekend.
Let's check in using this kiosk.
Hmm.
This is asking me to pay $50 to bring a piece of luggage aboard.
I didn't know there were such strict baggage restrictions.
I didn't realize it either.
And we have to pay another fee to reserve a seat.
I didn't know that the default was open seating.
Me neither.
Did you know that we're not flying directly to Lawrence City, but making two stops on the way?
Oh, no.
And there are other hidden fees for what they consider add-ons things we would normally get for free on other airlines, like a soda snack, blanket and in-flight entertainment.
No, that's news to me.
Here's the kicker.
We're not flying into Lawrence City Airport, but to a remote airport 60 miles away.
We'll pay a lot for ground transportation to our hotel.
Should we get a refund and forget about the trip?
Sorry, one thing I do know is that there are no refunds or changes allowed.
I should have known flying on a budget airline would be like this.
It doesn't seem like such a good deal now, does it?
No, this airline has turned nickel and diming into an art form.
Thanks to Dr. Lucy Say for all of her wonderful scripts.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
