ESL Podcast 442 - Flying on Low-Cost Airlines

airline reservations - arrangements to take a flight at a specific date and time in the future

If we make our airline reservations early, we'll pay less than people who wait until the last minute.

itinerary - a travel plan that states what one will do and when

According to the itinerary, they're spending the first night in Mobile, Alabama.

low-cost airline - a company that offers less expensive flights for customers, but also less customer service

She can save hundreds of dollars by buying her airplane ticket from a low-cost airline.

assigned seats - a system where each traveler has a specific seat number, usually printed on the ticket

If they offer assigned seats, let's request a window seat.

passenger - a person who travels in a plane, bus, train, car, or boat

This small bus can carry 40 passengers.

to rush - to hurry; to do something very quickly; to move toward something very quickly

The teenagers rushed the entrance of the auditorium an hour before the concert started.

gate - the area in an airport where people with tickets can get onto a plane

Please have your ticket and identification in hand as you walk through the gate.

boarding - the process where people get on a plane, find their seats, store their bags, and sit down

Boarding would be much faster if people in the back of the plane got on first.

a small price to pay - something that is easy or painless to do, considering the advantages or benefits of what will happen as a result

I think that having eye surgery is a small price to pay to never have to wear glasses again.

fare - the price of a ticket on an airplane, train, bus, or boat

Airline fares are usually most expensive around the holidays.

stripped down - without a lot of nice, extra, fancy things; only the basics

I don't have time to read such a long report. Do you have a stripped-down version?

no-frills - without a lot of nice, extra, fancy things or services; only the basics

They bought a no-frills car that didn't have a CD player, air conditioning, or power windows.

to depart from (somewhere) - to leave a place, especially to leave an airport in an airplane

Our plane will depart from Omaha at 4:35 p.m.

secondary airport - an airport that is not used as much as another airport in the same area

If we need to fly to Washington, D.C., but flights into Reagan Airport are too expensive, you might want to look at a secondary airport like the Baltimore Airport.

hand it over - a phrase used to ask someone to give control of a project to oneself; a phrase used to ask another person to let one do or have something

You've been trying to fix the sink for 30 minutes with no success. Hand it over and let me try.

to take over (something) - to take control of something; to begin doing something that another person had been doing

From now on, I'm taking over cooking dinner each night.

to sacrifice - to give up or to not have or do something, usually so that one can have or do something else

She decided to sacrifice her $3.50 cup of coffee each morning in order to save money.

buck - one dollar

Why does that jacket cost 200 bucks?