If I ran an airport (and the world)

This is my first guest column written by Erin Carpenter. Although written in a slightly more calm, logical tone, it still gets the message across. Enjoy.

If I ran an airport, there would be a separate space for the motorized carts that take passengers to their gates to drive through. There is little at an airport than bothers me more (although I will touch on a few things in a minute) than hearing an annoyed, borderline angry, “Excuse the cart!”, sometimes accompanied by a horn honk or some other attention-getter, forcing travelers of all sorts to delay their progress to allow these carts to pass.

The way I see it, we are all trying to get to our gates as efficiently as possible. These carts serve one, albeit noble, purpose: to assist those passengers who have mobility restrictions to their gates. These passengers should have the opportunity to receive this assistance, but it does not mean they have the right to get to their gates faster than the rest of us. We are all trying to make our way to our destination. I can’t very well push my way through a busy ATL terminal, for example, shouting “Excuse the ERIN!” and expect everyone to step aside and allow me swift travel to my destination (although I haven’t tried this yet…).

Anyway, I do realize that it would be a bit cumbersome to inch through a thick crowd of people in one of these carts (like the rest of us have to do on foot), therefore if I ran an airport there would be a separate space for these motorized carts to drive through, allowing people the assistance they need, and all travelers equal opportunity to travel efficiently.

As I mentioned, there is little that bothers me at an airport more than the angry, entitled motorized carts, but there are a few things that come close. One is gate-crowders. These are the folks that as soon as the gate makes any sort of announcement, usually that boarding will begin soon (not now), they immediately begin to crowd the boarding area, forming a tight bunch around the gate.

The issue I have is that these people are not boarding the plane anytime soon, and in fact other people are boarding before them, and yet they pay no attention whatsoever. They even act sort of annoyed or inconvenienced as other passengers, like me, have to bob and weave through them in order to rightfully board the plane at our appointed time.

The underlying train of thought in these heads, as well as the angry cart drivers’ appears to me to be the same, I matter more than you. Who do you think you are? Well, I am a traveler just like you; the difference is that I am aware of the big picture here and acknowledge everyone’s desire to travel in an efficient way. I seek to move through a crowd and allow others around me to also. I wait in an open, distanced space until I am called to board my flight so that others may also travel efficiently. It’s about looking out for others as well as yourself, because we all matter.

The gate-crowders do not disappear once they board their flights, unfortunately. They rear their ugly heads again at the baggage carousels. They are the folks who step right in front of you as you patiently wait at a reasonable distance from the carousel, and remain there as if you do not exist, or probably more accurately, as if you do not matter.

They sidle in front, in any small gap, as though they are the only ones who have luggage to claim. And they do this, much like they do at the boarding gate, extremely prematurely, only creating a wall of sorts, preventing everyone else who needs to claim their luggage from even seeing their luggage, let alone claiming it easily. But then again, that doesn’t matter to these people; only they matter.

If everyone would take a few steps back, acknowledge the entire flight of travelers around them, and wait patiently and respectfully until they see their own luggage, then step forward to claim it, everyone could complete this process easily.

So, you see, my issue is this: too many people these days only care about themselves. There is no awareness of what is going on around them, because to them, none of that matters, only they matter. Because I am traveling almost non-stop these days, I see this mindset manifest itself in airports around the country and around the world, but it is the principle of it that bothers me.

Therefore, if I ran an airport, there would be a separate space for the motorized carts to drive in. And if I ran the world, gate-crowders would not be allowed to board their flights, now it is they who do not matter. With any luck, the baggage carousel thing would solve itself with the previous restriction on boarding, and sooner or later, if their parents still don’t teach them growing up, people will learn that others really do matter. Maybe then people will start to show a little respect for one another, and we can all travel (drive, speak, shop, etc.) in peace.

A big hug and thanks to Fishface-Wingman-Bridgerider for the opportunity to write this entry. Until next time!