# What is the proper word for a passenger conveyor at airports? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012 "2013-03-26T15:56:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/1 "2013-03-26T15:56:42Z")
Hi, I’m looking for the proper word for a conveyor at airports for passengers heading to their boarding gates? Is it an escalator? To me an escalator travels up at an angle, not on the ground. Is it passenger conveyor? I don’t know what to call it. I’d appreciate some help. Thanks. I look forward to your replies ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/2 "2013-03-26T15:59:25Z")
> **[Moving walkway](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_walkway)** > > A moving walkway, also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, people-mover, travolator, or travelator (British English), is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distance. Moving walkways can be used by standing or walking on them. They are often installed in pairs, one for each direction. > The first moving walkway debuted at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, in Chicago, Illinois, in the United... Usually they’re called moving walkways, or moving sidewalks. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/3 "2013-03-26T16:02:09Z")
It can be called a [travelator](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/travelator?r=66), although there are [a number of other terms for it](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_walkway) (mostly even more awkward IMHO). Reported for forum change ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/4 "2013-03-26T16:03:27Z")
I love walking along those things. It makes me feel like I’m power-walking past all the normal shlubs outside these things. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/5 "2013-03-26T16:05:46Z")
Note that they’re called moving _walkways_, not moving _standways_. Get out of my way, I’m still 3,265 gates away and I have 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/6 "2013-03-26T16:31:21Z")
I kinda like “slidewalk”. It has the feel of “sidewalk” but with the essence of slide. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/7 "2013-03-26T16:34:24Z")
Reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![The\_dread\_simoom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_dread\_simoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_dread_simoom)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/8 "2013-03-26T17:18:55Z")
At our airport the overlarge term “people mover” is in use. I’m going to see if I can effect a change to “slidewalk”. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/9 "2013-03-26T17:21:03Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Note that they’re called moving _walkways_, not moving _standways_. Get out of my way, I’m still 3,265 gates away and I have 5 minutes. +1 billion. Death to all those mooks riding that left handrail. Seriously, you’re just standing on a thing that goes slower than you could walk, anyway. WTF is wrong with you? When I was a kid, I called them flat escalators. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/10 "2013-03-26T17:22:01Z")
> [@The\_dread\_simoom](#): > > At our airport the overlarge term “people mover” is in use. I’m going to see if I can effect a change to “slidewalk”. I read “the term ‘overlarge people mover’ is in use”. Appropriate, either way. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/11 "2013-03-26T17:27:17Z")
As far as I can remember, the annoying recordings at the end almost always use the phrase “moving walkway”. (You know, the automated recording that says something like, “The moving walkway is coming to an end. Please watch your step.”) Most of my flying in the last few years has been through Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis, though, so maybe it’s a Midwestern regionalism. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/12 "2013-03-26T17:29:14Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > +1 billion. > > Death to all those mooks riding that left handrail. Seriously, you’re just standing on a thing that goes slower than you could walk, anyway. WTF is wrong with you? And another +1 from me. They’re a great way to speed up traffic along long walkways, not to make it easier for the lazy. People apparently think airports put them in as amusement park rides or something. If you can’t handle the walking distances in an airport, you should be in a wheelchair or get airport personnel to haul you around in a Gator. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/13 "2013-03-26T17:31:48Z")
Last time I was at an airport, I saw a massive number of passenger conveyors. I think they were called “airplanes.” ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/14 "2013-03-26T17:33:52Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > +1 billion. > [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > And another +1 from me. Pretty unimpressive order of magnitude there, guy. Though **friedo** did set the bar pretty high. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/15 "2013-03-26T17:39:06Z")
Apparently they are officially known to some people as “The thing I ride while standing next to my wheeled luggage, then take 1/2 step forward and stop and look around cluelessly for 10 minutes and tsk-tsk to myself over how rude the throngs forcing past me are.” ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/16 "2013-03-26T17:43:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I love walking along those things. It makes me feel like I’m power-walking past all the normal shlubs outside these things. I walk really, really fast. My favorite trick is to not take the moving walkway and still go faster than the people walking on it. It takes effort but it is worth it. I walk right next to it and pass person after person. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/17 "2013-03-26T17:56:20Z")
The flying leap you have to take at the end of those things is ALWAYS entertaining! I hate airports. I hate flying. If I work it right, I’ll never have to fly again. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/18 "2013-03-26T18:39:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Last time I was at an airport, I saw a massive number of passenger conveyors. > > I think they were called “airplanes.” I was going to do that snark. There are also some known as “buses” and in some airports (like Sea-Tac) “subways”. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/19 "2013-03-26T18:48:33Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I walk really, really fast. My favorite trick is to not take the moving walkway and still go faster than the people walking on it. It takes effort but it is worth it. I walk right next to it and pass person after person. This. I’m about to sit on a plane for several hours; I may as well get at least a little bit of exercise on my way to that seat. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012/20 "2013-03-26T18:51:39Z")
I like ‘slidewalk’. I think I first encountered it in a Niven story. I wonder where the term ‘slidewalk’ was first used. Not the concept, the term. As far as I understand, the first moving sidewalks (which is the currently preferred term in NA) were introduced at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, in Chicago, Illinois. [CITE](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_sidewalk#History) But they were not called ‘slidewalks’. They were called ‘moving sidewalks’ as far as I can determine after a couple of minutes of research when they were invented. I know Larry Niven called them slidewalks in the _Flatlander_ series. Are there other earlier uses of the word? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-word-for-a-passenger-conveyor-at-airports/654012.md?page=2)