spoiled seat n.— «The revenue lost by leaving a seat empty—a spoiled seat, in industry parlance—typically exceeds the cost of compensating a bumped passenger. Only fear of angering people keeps airlines from overbooking more...
kiss-and-ride n.— «At the terminal building, the wife and husband pull into a special place to park long enough to discuss last minute family matters…and for that parting kiss! This husbad is the “Kiss-and_Ride”...
kiss and ride n. a passenger drop-off area near a rapid transit station; the act of using such an area as intended. Also as verb phrase. Editorial Note: Often attributive. Etymological Note: From the 1950s-era urban planning vision of wives dropping...
skylab n.— «The victims’ hands, whose hands were reportedly tied up, were loaded onto a “Skylab” motorcycle, a local term for a motorcycle fitted with planks that extend beyond its sides for seating additional passengers...
keep a slot warm v. phr.— «An airline is flying an empty passenger jet between Heathrow and Cardiff on a daily basis—just so that it can hold on to its lucrative slots at the London airport.…The flights reveal the lengths to which...
gravy plane n.— «You’ve heard of the “gravy train?”…Well, my book reveals the “gravy plane”—it is to my knowledge the first definitive work in the United States on the massive subsidies that flow from various federal...