http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304176904579111350872569482.html?KEYWORDS=seatgurucom
This link to a Wall Street Journal article which describes the various ways in which superstitions are exhibited in commercial aviation (see partial text at bottom). Among them:
Anyone have any superstitions or traditions they'd care to share?
Passengers pat the plane when they board, as if to make sure it's solid. Some kiss the fuselage, or even break into the same little dance, at the doorway every time they fly. If they peer into the cockpit, they may see pilots' hats hanging with family pictures stuffed inside for good luck.
Even airlines have set ideas about good and bad mojo, down to a list of verboten flight numbers: No one ever schedules Flight 13.
Travel is chock full of little superstitions, fluky talismans and fateful traditions, such as retiring the flight numbers of crashed planes. Of 102 airlines tracked by SeatGuru.com, 25 around the world have no Row 13s on their planes.
Before it merged with United Airlines, Continental Airlines avoided the number 13 religiously: no gate 13s at hub airports, no row 13s on airplanes.
Veterans from the airline say the triskaidekaphobia followed the crash of Flight 1713 in Denver in 1987. "After that, a lot of 13s were taken out of Continental Airlines," said an executive who worked there at the time.
Construction workers top airport control towers with a ceremonial cedar tree, a construction tradition for good luck. Airlines sometimes put perceived lucky numbers on flights to gambling destinations, such as Southwest Airlines Flight 711 from San Antonio to Las Vegas.
Alaska Airlines flies many Canadian customers from Las Vegas to Bellingham, Wash., so it numbered the flight 649, a spokeswoman says, because Canada's lottery is called Lotto 6/49.
This link to a Wall Street Journal article which describes the various ways in which superstitions are exhibited in commercial aviation (see partial text at bottom). Among them:
- 25 of 102 airlines tracked by SeatGuru.com have no aisle 13;
- Continental Airlines has no gate 13 at their hubs, or aisle 13 on their planes;
- 191 is an avoided number: UAL 191, AA 191, X-15 flight 191, Comair 5191, and JetBlue 191 (CA Clayton Osbon);
- Some pax do a dance when entering the aircraft door.
Anyone have any superstitions or traditions they'd care to share?
Passengers pat the plane when they board, as if to make sure it's solid. Some kiss the fuselage, or even break into the same little dance, at the doorway every time they fly. If they peer into the cockpit, they may see pilots' hats hanging with family pictures stuffed inside for good luck.
Even airlines have set ideas about good and bad mojo, down to a list of verboten flight numbers: No one ever schedules Flight 13.
Travel is chock full of little superstitions, fluky talismans and fateful traditions, such as retiring the flight numbers of crashed planes. Of 102 airlines tracked by SeatGuru.com, 25 around the world have no Row 13s on their planes.
Before it merged with United Airlines, Continental Airlines avoided the number 13 religiously: no gate 13s at hub airports, no row 13s on airplanes.
Veterans from the airline say the triskaidekaphobia followed the crash of Flight 1713 in Denver in 1987. "After that, a lot of 13s were taken out of Continental Airlines," said an executive who worked there at the time.
Construction workers top airport control towers with a ceremonial cedar tree, a construction tradition for good luck. Airlines sometimes put perceived lucky numbers on flights to gambling destinations, such as Southwest Airlines Flight 711 from San Antonio to Las Vegas.
Alaska Airlines flies many Canadian customers from Las Vegas to Bellingham, Wash., so it numbered the flight 649, a spokeswoman says, because Canada's lottery is called Lotto 6/49.
