Podcast: Booking a flight online

By Ana | Podcast Inglês Online

Nov 26
Podcast Booking a flight online

What’s up? No podcast de hoje, falo sobre reservar um voo. Enjoy :-)

Transcrição

Hi, everyone, how’s it going? Is it boiling in Brazil yet? Here in my neck of the woods it’s getting colder and wetter every day. Sorry, I didn’t mean to brag…

Anyway, I thought that having a look at one of these booking websites where you can search and find your flight would be a good idea. There’s some interesting vocabulary involved – let’s dive right into it.

The website I’m looking at has kind of a funny name: Momondo. I’m looking at it right now and… What does it look like? At the top you have sort of search form where you enter the airport you’re departing from. And then you enter the other airport where your flight is supposed to arrive. You enter first the three-letter code for the departure airport – let’s say you’re departing from… if it’s an international flight, maybe you’re departing from Guarulhos, which is GRU.

Or if you want to go somewhere, I don’t know, in Brazil and you’re departing from São Paulo, you’re going to enter CGH which is the three-letter code for Congonhas, then you enter the dates. The date (when) you’re going to depart, and then if it’s a round trip you’re going to enter your return date as well… Or maybe you’re just looking at a one-way ticket and then you only enter one date, which is the departure date.

Then you hit Search and when you look at the results you, obviously see a list of flights. Several options from several different airlines, and you’ll be able to see the dates – usually it will be the dates that you entered. You’ll be able to see, for each flight, how many stops, how long each stop takes… The time of the flight, and then you have some options: either you’ll see a few direct flights, which are usually more expensive, and you will see some flights with one, or two, or sometimes even three stops.

There are some flights that – with all the stops – take, sometimes, over 24 hours. If you want to save some money maybe that’s the flight you choose. And then, when I scroll down on the search results, I see multiple different airlines. I see some traditional ones like TAP, which is a Portuguese one, KLM, which is a Dutch one, British Airways… And then on the left side of the search results there’s the sidebar with additional options.

Right on the top you have… almost at the top, you have the option of, I guess, narrowing down your search by number of cabin bags, or checked bags that you want to take, and also the payment method. What is a cabin bag? That’s… that’s also known as a carry-on bag. That’s sort of, that smaller bag – when you board the plane you take it with you, and you sort of put it in the overhead compartment above your seat. Or, if that is full, you kind of tuck it away under the seat in front of you. Usually the flight attendants will help you with that. That’s the cabin bag or carry-on bag.

And then you also usually have a checked bag, depending on… if it’s a budget flight, sometimes you have to pay quite a bit of money to be able to take a checked bag with you, and for other flights, longer flights… It’s included in the price. You can take a checked bag with you, which is actually that larger bag. It’s that large suitcase where you put all your clothes. If you’re traveling for a month, you’ll probably need a large suitcase. You stuff all your clothes in there, and your toiletries, and your shoes and whatever else you want to take with you.

That’s the larger bag and obviously you can’t board the plane with that bag. You have to get to the airport with some time in advance and check that bag. And then scrolling down a bit further, I find that there are some options for “flight quality”: you can choose “show Wi-Fi flights only”, “show flights with multiple tickets for booking”, “show red-eyes”.

This is an interesting expression. A red-eye flight is any flight departing late at night and arriving early the next morning. That’s why it’s called red eye:  if you don’t fall asleep during the flight, you’ll probably get to your destination with red eyes.

Ok, you guys, after you choose your flights, after you select your flights, it’s pretty simple, usually. You hit Book and then you’re taken to the payment processor… and then you usually have to type in all your information and  buy your ticket. Let me know which online booking services you use for booking flights – kind of curious!

Talk to you next time. Bye!

Key expressions

  • booking a flight online
  • return date
  • stops
  • checked bag
  • carry-on or cabin bag
  • one-way ticket
  • round trip

Vocabulary

I didn’t mean to brag = não foi minha intenção contar vantagem

neck of the woods = região ou área especifica onde você mora

narrow down = restringir ou limitar

you tuck it away = você guarda, coloca (alguma coisa) em um lugar seguro ou protegido

toiletries = produtos de higiene pessoal

Ana
Maria eduarda 30/11/2019

I really like here I have almost 11 years old

    Ana 09/12/2019

    hi Maria Eduarda!
    nice to have you – -good for you for getting involved with English so soon!!

José Antonio 27/11/2019

“you choose your flies” – não entendi o que moscas tem a ver com essa estória. Parece que a linha ficou sobrando.

    Olá, José Antonio
    Corrigido o erro de digitação na transcrição do texto.
    Thanks for pointing that out.

Vera 27/11/2019

Usually, when a hop on plane I carry a lot of stuff along with me. Better in abundance than in shortage. I don’t like being in shortage of anything.

    Ana 08/12/2019

    I think I’m just like you, Vera… but I end up regretting packing so much stuff

NORBERTO 26/11/2019

Muito útil! Seria maravilhoso ter 2 podcasts por semana.

    Ana 27/11/2019

    Haha! Sério, Norberto? 5min não é suficiente para cansar? (brincadeira)
    Abraço

      Maria eduarda 30/11/2019

      i love this site

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