Comments on: Flying Confusion Air

By: CFung

CFung — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 19:26:43 +0000

In reply to S.McC. "Confusion" here is related to "confound" which means to be blocked and rendered helpless in one's schemes. In that case, wishing someone confusion is not a genteel request, it is an expression of deep animus. The whole toast runs "Confusion to Boney and Disappointment to his Schemes!"

By: sumac

sumac — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 17:33:04 +0000

In reply to Rebecca Leong. Oh that is so low. The time it takes to do this stuff is outrageous.

By: Rebecca Leong

Rebecca Leong — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 15:27:33 +0000

Ah USAirways/American. I booked a last minute flight on AA to see my ailing mom with frequent flyer miles, and paid a $75 nonrefundable expedite fee for booking less than 21 days in advance. 35 minutes later, USAirways sent me an email saying the flight had been canceled. It took several phone calls (each, of course, involving being on hold) and emails to get them to refund the $75. “The terms clearly state the fee is nonrefundable but we’ll refund it as a good will gesture just this once.” Wait – YOU canceled the flight, not I.
And complaining on Twitter during the three weeks it took to finally get the refund elicited no response.

By: S.McC

S.McC — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 03:19:14 +0000

In reply to Nettie.

Another old British use of “confusion” was that British officers during the Napoleonic wars were said to drink to the toast, “Confusion to Boney!”

I gather it was too gauche to wish something worse on someone at the dinner table, and besides a sufficiently “confused” Napoleon should be easy to defeat.

That said I’d bet it was an American Airlines PR dept. person who came up with that phrase for the Airline situation.

By: sumac

sumac — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 16:25:21 +0000

In reply to Nettie.

Oh, so “boot” means “trunk” of a car, “lorry” means “truck,” and “confusion” means “too bad you didn’t let me cheat you”?

Neat.

By: Nettie

Nettie — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 07:26:14 +0000

I wonder if their script was written by a British person. Seems to me i’ve encountered a few cases of a British person using the word “confusion” to describe a failed attempt to hoodwink me out of a few euros. Or maybe it’s crept into being used this way in American English and i just haven’t noticed bcs i’ve been away.

By: sumac

sumac — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 05:04:56 +0000

I think it must be a horrible job.

By: sumac

sumac — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 05:04:06 +0000

In reply to bratschegirl. Argh, I didn't even think of the trying-to-fly-together pressure!

By: tanita

tanita — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 17:45:24 +0000

Oh, many are the terrible experiences of flying nowadays, including the airlines trying to trick you to make a buck off of you. At least you remained gracious to Lilith, considering it’s part of her job to perpetuate a lie. Ugh.

By: bratschegirl

bratschegirl — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 06:36:30 +0000

I’ve had similar experiences, where the only available seats that don’t cost extra are middle seats several rows apart and there are 2 of us. I bet a lot of people grit their teeth and pony up, fearing that waiting until they get to the airport will put them into the last boarding group and there will be no more room for their carry-ons. And they’ll get stuck in a middle seat. Flying is the pits these days.