Talking About Airports

Hi Becca.

Hi Neil. How are you? Have you got any trips coming up soon?

I have. I'm going to Montenegro, which is exciting. I've never been there before, but it means that I have to go to an airport and I have to fly. I don't like flying.

But we're talking about airports today in this episode of Real Easy English.

We are. But people need to know that to get a transcript and a worksheet for this episode, they need to go to our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

Absolutely. So, you'll be going to an airport for your holiday, but what happens at an airport, Neil?

One of the most important things is check in. Now, to check in is to officially tell the airline that you're going to fly. Normally, now, we do this online, but you can still check in at the airport, I think.

Yes, you can. Yeah. So, there will be check-in gates. It is very important.

It is, because they give you a boarding pass then, don't they?

They do.

The boarding pass is the document that lets you get on the plane and also tells you what seat that you have on the plane as well.

So, you've checked in and you've got your boarding pass. What happens next?

Well, then you need to go through security, and that's when they check you to make sure you haven't got anything that you shouldn't have on a plane.

I hate airport security. Even though I know that I'm not carrying anything that I'm not supposed to have, it still makes me feel a bit stressed.

Yeah, I know what you mean. You feel guilty even if you haven't done anything.

Exactly! Yeah, airport security is one of the reasons I don't really enjoy airports.

Really? You don't like airports?

I don't like airports. I enjoy flying but... yeah, airports can be a bit stressful for me.

Well, I'm the exact opposite of you because I quite like airports, but I really don't like flying.

What do you like about airports?

I think because when you finally get to the airport, it's somebody else's problem for you to travel. So, it's my responsibility to get to the airport but once I'm there, I can relax.

OK. And have you ever been in a situation where you relaxed a bit too much and almost missed a flight?

Yes, I have missed a flight once and it was very stressful. I was travelling in Ireland and I had a flight in Dublin, and I was in a different city – in Cork. And I missed the train from Cork to Dublin and so I couldn't get to the airport on time.

So, you did miss that flight?

I missed it.

Oh no!

So, Becca, have you ever missed a flight?

Thankfully, no, I haven't missed a flight. I was very close to missing a flight... I was just relaxing. I had travelled from Vietnam and I was really tired, so I wasn't really listening carefully. Well, they didn't call my name, so I was really stressed trying to find the gate, but luckily I caught it. I think I was the last person to board the plane, and that's always a little bit embarrassing as well.

You know what, Becca? I think if you get your name read out on the loudspeaker in an airport, that's really embarrassing because everyone in the airport is thinking, "Who's that person? That person who's going to miss their flight!"

And you don't want to be that person.

OK. Becca, it's time to recap the vocabulary that we used in this episode, starting with check in. Check in is the verb, which means you officially tell the plane company that you plan to get on the plane, and you give them your bags as well. And at the airport you do this at the check-in desk.

Yes. And at the check-in desk, that's where you get your boarding pass, and that's the ticket that you need to get on the plane.

And then we heard the expression go through security. If you go through security, you go through that area where they check and make sure you have nothing with you that should not be on a plane.

Yes. Going through security – my least favourite thing about airports. After security, you wait at the boarding gate and this is the area that you wait at before you get on the plane.

If you catch a flight, it means you successfully get on the plane and fly somewhere, but if you miss a flight, like I did in Ireland, it means that you were too late to get on the plane.

Well, Neil, that's it for this week's episode of Real Easy English, but we'll be back next week with another episode.

Don't forget that you can download a free worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. Goodbye for now.

Bye!