Who’s ready to have a little fun?
During this year’s Cranky Dorkfest, Kevin Trinkle from American Airlines went around and asked 73 of these people to answer 10 questions:
He used these to create trivia questions for American’s annual Geek Off which pits teams of employees against each other, all for charity. This year’s Geek off is done, and now Kevin has shared the answers with me so I can put you all to the test.
This should be done Family Feud-style with, “we asked 73 avgeeks the following questions….” But my quiz-building capabilities aren’t that great, so for each question you should try to guess the answer that received the most responses. Oh, and if you’re reading this via email, click here to take the quiz.
There is nothing to be won and no glory to be had, but enjoy!
1) Name a piece of airline memorabilia you wish that an airline still produced
Inflight Magazines
Try again. Only 3 people chose this, since almost nobody misses these.
Playing Cards
So close! This came in at number 2 with 11 people responses, and I miss them too.
Timetables
Correct! This was the response given by 14 people, just beating out playing cards. This is certainly the truest avgeek answer.
Wings
Try again. Shockingly, only 1 person chose this. Maybe it’s because some airlines still give them out.
2) Name an airport with an automated train or people-mover.
Atlanta
Try again. The ATL came in 2nd place with 11 responses.
Dallas/Fort Worth
Correct! There were 16 people who chose this, proving that there must have been a lot of American employees at Cranky Dorkfest.
Denver
Try again. Denver and its jam-packed system came in third with 10 responses.
Sacramento
Try again. Though Sacramento does have a (useless) tram, only 1 person mentioned it.
3) Name your favorite airline reporter or blogger.
Alison Sider
Try again. The Wall Street Journal reporter did get on the board, but it wasn’t enough to win this time around. Now that attendees have read her write-up of Cranky Dorkfest, I’m sure she’ll get a whole lot more mentions next time around.
Cranky Flier
Correct! I mean, come on. This was done at Cranky Dorkfest. Of course this was the winner with 31 mentions.
Jason Rabinowitz
Try again. There were 4 responses for Jason, who writes for Runway Girl Network, hosts the AvTalk by Flightradar24 podcast, but is best to follow on Twitter.
Jon Ostrower/The Air Current
Try again. Jon did come in 2nd with 14 responses, and he deserved every one.
4) What is the most frustrating part of flying an airline?
Boarding Process
Try again. There were 5 people that really hate boarding.
Delays/Cancellations
Correct! This tied for first with 17 mentions.
Other Passengers
Correct! This tied for first with 17 mentions, but it very clearly should be the true number one.
Slow Internet
Try again. Only 1 person gave this response, probably because the rest couldn’t get connected to answer the question.
5) Name the main reason you enter an airline lounge.
Alcohol
Correct! Is there another reason? A solid 21 people chose this.
Escaping Regular Passengers
Try again. Though 7 people were willing to admit this, the true number is clearly higher.
Food
So close! With 14 responses, this was in 2nd place.
Quiet Space
Try again. There were 12 people who haven’t discovered noise-canceling headphones yet.
6) Name an airline, past or present, whose official name ends in “Airways.”
British Airways
Try again. This was number two with 10 mentions, and the highest ranking non-US carrier.
JetBlue Airways
Try again. Only 8 people chose the blue crew.
Pan American World Airways
Try again. there were most certainly a couple of proper avgeeks who chose this, but it was literally just those two.
US Airways
Correct! There’s that American Airlines contingent again, bringing in 31 mentions.
7) Name an airline that has an image or a resemblance of an animal in their logo.
Alaska
Try again. One person apparently doesn’t realize that’s a person, not an animal. But then again, this is probably better than the 1 person who chose Southwest.
Frontier
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Ok, there isn’t a chicken on a Frontier tail and those animals aren’t technically part of the logo, but 28 people chose this.
Japan Airlines
Try again. Just 7 people chose JAL and its crane, Tsurumaru.
Qatar Airways
Try again. A surprising 14 people had Qatar and its oryx on the brain; maybe it had just landed or something.
8) Name the hardest airport to make a flight connection in.
Kansas City
Try again. Somehow, only 1 person felt tortured by the very difficult airport layout that for years made connections leave security. I guess everyone else is thinking ahead to the new terminal coming soon.
London/Heathrow
Correct! There were 12 people who said this, and I whole-heartedly agree. Stupid document check.
New York/JFK
Try again. Tied for second, JFK had 8 mentions, and I will assume that all of them were changing terminals. Otherwise, JFK isn’t too bad.
Paris/CDG
Try again. There were 8 people who chose this, and yes, it is very, very bad.
9) Name a European Low Cost Carrier (LCC).
British Airways
Try again. This is actually the most clever and completely correct answer when it comes to intra-Europe travel, but it only got 2 mentions.
easyJet
Try again. I didn’t expect to see easyJet slip to third, but that’s what happened with 14 mentions.
Ryanair
Correct! The most obvious answer won with 24 mentions.
Wizz Air
Try again. A surprise second place finisher with 16 mentions.
10) How do you pass the time on a flight?
Looking Out the Window
Try again. This is the true avgeek answer, but it was in a three-way tie for second with 11.
Movies/Videos/Audio
Correct! Avgeeks are people, just like you. At least, 17 prefer to stare at any screen, or at least listen to something.
Reading
Try again. All those disappearing inflight magazines means that only 11 said this, tied for second.
Sleep
Try again. This tied for second with 11 responses.
Feel free to regale us all with your claims of correct answers in the comments below.
25 comments on “Do You Have the Mind of an AvGeek?”
Thanks for the shout out to the SMF Terminal B train!
That train is terrible. A billion dollars and no second car?!! The backup when busy are maddening.
Does it at least connect you to something? Look at the millions wasted in Maui on the train car that takes you to the car rental center – a super short…. we’ve timed it, and its actually FASTER to walk.
It connects you from the check in and baggage claim area to the security checkpoint that you are not allowed to walk to because reasons. The recording is something like “please hold on the train is departing now it’s arriving”.
Most of my first answers were not the most popular, but then I’m not one to follow trends so I’m quite satisfied with the results.
Same here. I only got two off the bat. that is considering there was an AA tilt to some of the questions & I’m more a B6 fan.
The more obscure but correct answers make you a true avgeek, right?
Sleep will always be the number one pastime on a plane. From the muffled roar of the jets as you start down the runway, to the point of rotation and lift off, to the steep angle as your climbing into the clouds to zzzzzzzzz.
An avgeek lullaby!
8 out of 10 ?
I got 8, but one answer was missing from the question about what you do on a plane. I work on my laptop, trying to make the best use of the time.
Can’t sleep on planes (it’s hard even on flat beds).
Man, me neither. My wife can practically sleep standing up, and I really envy that. For me, the daytime eastbound transatlantic flight is just about the best aviation invention since Kitty Hawk.
I got 9 out of 10 but Pan Am is the correct answer to any question where it is an option and shame on all the Johnny Come Lately American Airlines employees who chose an airline that did not even exist 50 years ago. And I will die on this hill.
To propetly win you have to throttle your AVGeek intuition a little and pick some incorrect answers…which is why I chose Frontier over the iconic JAL for animal tail logo. I knew too many people would pick wrong.
Depends on which JAL tail though. Before they revert back to the crane tail, they used part of the rising sun of the Japan flag, which makes it look like a giant watermelon.
I got them all correct except for the one’s I missed…..LOL
With hard connections no mention of SFO whose terminals still do not connect and now with the construction(still will not connect all terminals) it is worse you check in term 2 then go to term 1 for lounge then some flights back to term 2 for boarding.. on return you deplane at terminal 1 then must go to terminal 2 to leave the building or collect luggage -crazy also LAX is fun when you arrive from international (tom Bradley term-with a closed centurion lounge) you need to go to term 1 or 2 or 3 to connect domestic… but the busses seem to not run because of covid so u must drag yourself and your luggage outside and down the street..they still need their terminal connected!! These 2 airports have been like this for over 20 years and lots of tax$$$$ and construction but still not connected???? very strange that is has never been a priority!!
LAX is almost all connected. 1-2 are connected now with the recent connection of the Terminal 1.5 project, and TBIT-4-5-6-7-8 are connected airside as well. The final piece of the puzzle is the 2-3-TBIT connection which is being built as part of the Delta SkyWay project.
I think you can get between boarding areas C through G behind security these days.
My memory of the DFW TrAAin was that is was useless. It’s a reason I’ve avoided AA for the past 17 years. ATL and DEN are much more useful.
The TrAAin is gone, having been replaced by the DFW SkyLink automated peoplemover, which as some nice views of the airport.
Yeah, the trAAin at DFW sUUcked.
It’s funny, DEN is the only airport where you have no choice but to use the train no matter what, but I feel like there’s no train that’s more iconic (for better or worse) than ATL.
No mentions of the Qantas kangaroo for animals on a tail?
The DFW Airport train sucked for sure as it got older. But…when the place was built, it was really special.
In 1979, I was 16 years old, living in Austin and working for Safeway as a checker and stocker. I had never been on a airplane, but I was so fascinated about airplanes and where they went. I saved up my money, and took a Southwest flight from Austin to Love Field in Dallas, then took a bus from Love to DFW. I spent the entire day wandering around the airport, riding that train and watching the planes come and go. This was before 9-11 obviously, so you could go through security and wander around the gates. Flew back to Austin on American from DFW.
For that 16-year-old, it so effing cool.
Now, 40 years, 4.5 million miles, and 356 airports (at least one in all 50 states and also in 24 countries), I am STILL fascinated about airplanes and where they go. The difference is now I get paid to get on them and go somewhere!
Stories like this remind us about why we got in to all of this is the first place. It wasn’t about being gold diamond double decker taco supreme elite and having access to the grand emperor red carpet lounge; it was about fascination and wonder.
I would have picked PIT for the people mover/train. But it was where I grew up. To this day I still never hold on and surf the train when I come home to visit family. I also agree staring out the window is the true avgeek answer for what to do in a plane. I wish they would bring back playing cards, even for purchase.