The proper response to "you look too young to fly is"?

Soku39

Soku39

Well-Known Member
New airline pilot here, on IOE. I'm 26, but look a lot younger, so I get a lot of the too young to fly/be a pilot comments. Now I know there's an opportunity to inject some humor and wit here, but I can't quite figure out the right response. That said I'm sure ya'll have had the same thing and come up with good stuff over the years, so help me out!
 
I've flown in the 121 environment with a 18 year old a few weeks removed from high school graduation. He got A LOT of comments flying the HYA Shuttle from LGA. Folks ignored me as I was the "old" one as a 24 year old Captain.

With that said don't get that cute with the comments. Just smile and say thanks. Usually when people are joking with you about the age they may be a little insecure and/or afraid to be flying. They want to see how you react to sway their concerns/insecurities.
 
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When I was doing technology consulting, I had a lady ask if I rode the school bus to their organization because I was far too young to be in professional consulting. I responded by asking her if the nursing home van dropped her off. Don't say anything like that. It wasn't well received :). Then again she asked a rediculous question and got a ridiculous answer. She deserved it.
 
Soku39 said:
New airline pilot here, on IOE. I'm 26, but look a lot younger, so I get a lot of the too young to fly/be a pilot comments. Now I know there's an opportunity to inject some humor and wit here, but I can't quite figure out the right response. That said I'm sure ya'll have had the same thing and come up with good stuff over the years, so help me out!
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I'd say something along the lines of "Yup, I was even younger when I started flying the C 130 in the military".
 
Wait till you're on the other side of the age problem when it becomes a real issue called discrimination. A lot easier to have a job and have people poking fun at you than out of work not being able to prove whether it's discrimination or not.
 
Soku39 said:
New airline pilot here, on IOE. I'm 26, but look a lot younger, so I get a lot of the too young to fly/be a pilot comments. Now I know there's an opportunity to inject some humor and wit here, but I can't quite figure out the right response. That said I'm sure ya'll have had the same thing and come up with good stuff over the years, so help me out!
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....But I did sleep at a Holdall Inn Express last night....
 
web265 said:
You didn't happen to fly into EWR on your last leg on the 17th did you?
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Flew a late evening EWR turn on the 17th, wasn't the last leg though.

Retired in SAN said:
Wait till you're on the other side of the age problem when it becomes a real issue called discrimination. A lot easier to have a job and have people poking fun at you than out of work not being able to prove whether it's discrimination or not.
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Ha, by the time I'm old enough for age discrimination, robots will doing most of the work and we'll have much bigger problems in society. kidding, sorta. That said I've been following your posts and I gotta say SAN is just a hard commute no matter how you slice it, but hopefully something pops up soon.

Seggy said:
I've flown in the 121 environment with a 18 year old a few weeks removed from high school graduation. He got A LOT of comments flying the HYA Shuttle from LGA. Folks ignored me as I was the "old" one as a 24 year old Captain.

With that said don't get that cute with the comments. Just smile and say thanks. Usually when people are joking with you about the age they may be a little insecure and/or afraid to be flying. They want to see how you react to sway their concerns/insecurities.
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Ya I could see that, I mostly just started this thread to inject a little humor in the board, amongst all the serious stuff.
 
Try asking the passenger "Well, how old should I be to fly?"

It'll be funny to watch them scramble for an answer.
 
adk said:
Try asking the passenger "Well, how old should I be to fly?"
It'll be funny to watch them scramble for an answer.
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I met a woman a while back who wanted the FAA to set the minimum hours and experience for any commercial pilot to be "commensurate with Captain Sullenberger's experience when he successfully landed in the Hudson." I told her I couldn't wait to hear her plan for how one could get to that level of experience without being able to fly for a living. Surprise, surprise...she had nothing.
 
Usually a non-HR/CS approved rejoinder pops into my head, I don't utter it; I simply say thanks. When they ask how old I am, I tell them the truth as there's not much point in lying. The response is usually something like "good work, kid."

Be disarming, charming, professional, and polite.
Seggy said:
I've flown in the 121 environment with a 18 year old a few weeks removed from high school graduation. He got A LOT of comments flying the HYA Shuttle from LGA. Folks ignored me as I was the "old" one as a 24 year old Captain.
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I occasionally call the Captain "The Old Man," even though it seems nowadays we're pretty close to the same age. Usually for ironic purposes.

Incidentally, back when ExpressJet had an LAX operation (the college days), I'm pretty sure I had an FO who was a smidgen younger than I was when I went to Sacramento for some ground school. We kinda looked at each other and laughed.
 
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