# Q: That Airport Thingy You Walk Down... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615 "2005-01-19T21:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/1 "2005-01-19T21:37:21Z")
What is the correct term for the thing you walk down to board a commercial plane? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/2 "2005-01-19T21:39:56Z")
An airbridge. ---
**Author:** ![Anngela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/34f0e0/32.png) [@Anngela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anngela)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/3 "2005-01-19T21:41:09Z")
or a jetway. ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/4 "2005-01-19T21:41:43Z")
It’s a “Passenger Boarding Bridge”. A lot of them are made by Jetway, so sometimes people call them Jetways. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/5 "2005-01-19T21:42:12Z")
I’ve always heard it called a [jetway](http://www.jetway.com/FMC/jetway/__jetway_homepage_action/1,11767,51,00.html?redir=1&SLogo=). ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/6 "2005-01-19T21:43:26Z")
Or, what everyone before me said. Much like Kleenex or Xerox or Tylenol or Jell-O, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/7 "2005-01-19T22:35:24Z")
> [@lno](#): > > Or, what everyone before me said. > > Much like Kleenex or Xerox or Tylenol or Jell-O, I suppose. Very few people walk down Kleenex or Jell-O …successfully, anyway! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/8 "2005-01-21T03:04:56Z")
Is it ever called a gangway? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/9 "2005-01-21T04:49:39Z")
Gangways are temporary structures. I suppose that in an emergency the ground crew could build one, but I’d rather wait for a staircase. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/10 "2005-01-21T04:52:45Z")
Fly every week. Everyone I’ve ever heard talk about them calls them jetways. Every reference I’ve ever heard in pop culture or the media is “jetway.” ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/11 "2005-01-21T05:00:49Z")
[regionalsim] In Chicago, gangways refer to the space between houses or, more often, apartment buildings. Its typically just a few fet wide, dark and sometimes covered. [/r] ---
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/12 "2005-01-21T07:43:47Z")
I would say aerobridge ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/13 "2005-01-21T07:47:01Z")
Yeah, I recall hearing “jetways” over “aerobridge”, in the Mid-Atlantic USA. But, I don’t fly too often…even prior to the events of 9/11. - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/14 "2005-01-21T08:56:11Z")
My impression is that it’s usually called an airbridge in Europe, Australia and Asia (or, at least, the few airports in Asia that I’ve visited); I’ve never heard “jetway”. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/15 "2005-01-21T09:20:36Z")
Could it be called Rio, by Duran Duran? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-that-airport-thingy-you-walk-down/285615/16 "2005-01-21T12:24:04Z")
Every since listening to Arlo Guthrie talk about his experiences in one, I’ve called it “the time tunnel.”