Talking about airports

Introduction Becca and Neil have a real conversation in easy English about airports – the place we go when we travel by plane. Learn to talk about the different stages of catching a plane, and find out whether Becca or Neil has ever missed a flight...! Vocabulary check in officially tell the plane company that you will get on the plane, often giving them your luggage at the same time boarding pass ticket used to get on the plane, showing your seat number go through security pass through an area where you are checked for anything that you shouldn't carry on a plane boarding gate area where you wait just before you get on the plane catch a flight successfully get on a plane miss a flight don't get on a plane that you planned to travel on, often because you are too late   Transcript Neil Hi Becca.   Becca Hi Neil. How are you? Have you got any trips coming up soon?   Neil 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.   Becca But we're talking about airports today in this episode of Real Easy English.   Neil 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.   Becca Absolutely. So, you'll be going to an airport for your holiday, but what happens at an airport, Neil?   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.   Becca Yes, you can. Yeah. So, there will be check-in gates. It is very important.   Neil It is, because they give you a boarding pass then, don't they?   Becca They do.   Neil 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.   Becca So, you've checked in and you've got your boarding pass. What happens next?   Neil 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.   Becca 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.   Neil Yeah, I know what you mean. You feel guilty even if you haven't done anything.   Becca Exactly! Yeah, airport security is one of the reasons I don't really enjoy airports.   Neil Really? You don't like airports?   Becca I don't like airports. I enjoy flying but... yeah, airports can be a bit stressful for me.   Neil Well, I'm the exact opposite of you because I quite like airports, but I really don't like flying.   Becca What do you like about airports?   Neil 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. Becca OK. And have you ever been in a situation where you relaxed a bit too much and almost missed a flight?   Neil 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.   Becca So, you did miss that flight?   Neil I missed it.   Becca Oh no!   Neil So, Becca, have you ever missed a flight?   Becca 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.   Neil 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!"   Becca And you don't want to be that person.   Neil 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.   Becca 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.   Neil 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.   Becca 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.   Neil 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.   Becca Well, Neil, that's it for this week's episode of Real Easy English, but we'll be back next week with another episode.   Neil Don't forget that you can download a free worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. Goodbye for now.   Becca Bye! Now try this... 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