Airport Business - 35

TOTALLY BOGGUS
face the greatest propensity of being
involved in "concourse chicken" or
shooting a gap that suddenly disappears.
This group is often the most fun to
watch for those of us that like to watch
train wrecks. Just like the freeway
motor bikes, give these guys some room.

Mannequin Pis
We take this title from the famous
Belgium statue. This type of passenger
is the one that exits the restroom,
straight out, without looking, into the
f lowing traffic and then stops, turns
around and tries to get their bearings
or find their travel companions.
Like the "don't stop in traffic" folks,
the Mannequin Pis clan can have a
tremendous negative effect on the
flow of pedestrian traffic when it runs
perpendicular to washroom entrances.
These locations are magnets for sudden
and abrupt turns, stops, and crosstraffic. Slow down when approaching
restrooms and pay attention to and be
aware of crossing traffic.

Texting Zombies

a stop. You can always turn around and
rejoin the counterflow to get to where
you want to be.
I've almost hurt myself several times
while moving in a flow of pedestrians
when the person in front of me suddenly
throws on the brakes and comes to a
screeching halt. While not the same as
"concourse chicken," I have many times
considered the ramifications of mowing
that person over as opposed to a certain
hernia as I hit the e-stop button on my
walking stride.
Most amazing of all is the apparent
lack of physical awareness the stopped
person has as the die-back of their
sudden stone-cold stop creates near

multi-pedestrian pile-ups in the
passenger flow behind them.

Bob 'n Weavers
You know these folks that landed in
Concourse G and have 10 minutes to
make their flight in Concourse A. Or
the folks that arrived at the airport very
late, struggled through security and
now are doing Olympic sprints through
the terminal.
These are like the high-speed
motorcycles bobbing and weaving
through traffic on the freeway, dodging
in and out between passengers with
the narrowest of room as they run for
the gate. Often these are the ones that

BOGGUS TERMS
f PP: Pedestrian Pachinko
f WWII: Walking Without Incident and/or Injury

Walking and texting is like driving
while impaired. The list of sins of
those texting and walking is long,
from walking into people and objects
to swerving and stopping and basically
moving at an inconsistent pace, which
makes them infuriating to walk behind.
If you must text, find a spot out of
the pedestrian traffic while you attend
to, what must be, a very important
matter. And, for Pete's sake, do not
start texting while you are walking off
the aircraft onto the jet bridge. You are
holding everyone up. Finish your text in
the plane before you step into the aisle
or text once you are in the departure
lounge, out of the flow of traffic.
We're sure that there are many
other rules that can be applied but these,
we've found, are the major contributors
to pedestrian pachinko and a primary
detriment to WWII. Sometimes we're
just all in our own little world out there.
Like driving, know where you're
going, think about what you're doing,
stay in a straight line, and be predictable.
Remember, it's all fun and games
until someone misses their flight. 

MAY 2019 \ AVIATIONPROS.COM / 35
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Airport Business

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Airport Business
