Gate Lice — Nick Sainato

Several years ago a friend was at the airport, texting me complaining about gate lice. When I asked what that meant, he just dropped me the Urban Dictionary entry for the term:

Passenger, often inexperienced flyers in Kettle Class, who crowd around or line up at a gate at an airport completely blocking the boarding area and preventing First and Business Class passengers from being able to get on the plane when they’re allowed to. They can also cause delays and confusion if a passenger in a wheelchair needs to board as the chair has to plow through the mass of gate lice hovering around the gate.

When it’s time to board, they have to be shooed from the front boarding area to the back of the line, delaying the flight for everyone.

I will forgive the use of the term within the definition… a bit circular… but I digress.

I’ve traveled a lot lately. So much that I started thinking about how it’s a lot less stressful to fly when you think of flights like a bunch of bus routes that use the sky instead. Yes, I literally had an epiphany realizing that’s where “Airbus” got its name.

Anyway, here’s probably where I’d make some travel tips or something. And I will do that someday.

But not becoming gate lice is the real memo today.

Safe travels!