No matter how often you travel, there’s always an opportunity to learn more about travel. Maybe it’s how to override hotel thermostat settings, or why seats on a plane are usually blue. Perhaps it’s the best question you could ever ask your hotel concierge or finding out what that little triangle on a plane really means. Maybe it’s a term you had never heard of before, like ghost bagging, or the various code words the airline agency has for emergencies.
So I wasn’t really surprised when, while on a flight between MCO and the smallest commercial airport I’ve ever been to, my ears picked up on a phrase I had never heard before.
Not What You Think
As far as I knew, “pink eye” is an inflammation of the transparent membrane that lines the eyelid and eyeball. This membrane is called the conjunctiva. When small blood vessels in the conjunctiva become swollen and irritated, they’re more visible. This is what causes the whites of the eyes to appear reddish or pink.” (Thank you, Mayo Clinic!) The medical term for pink eye is conjunctivitis (that translates into inflammation of the conjunctiva).
By Banswalhemant – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90397215
I’ve had pink eye once and it’s not fun. Your eye (or eyes) get all red, it’s watery, itchy and you feel like there’s sand in your eye that you can’t get out. Not recommended. Like, at all. 0/10.
So I would never think someone would try to “take,” get or catch pink eye. At least not on purpose.
The Aviation Meaning of Pink Eye
Turns out that the definition of “pink eye” in the aviation world is very different from the medical world.
Pink eye is similar to a red eye flight, but not as extreme.
Similar but not the same
You undoubtedly already know what a red eye flight is – you get to the airport late, fly for a good portion of the night, and your plane lands in the early morning. When you fly a red eye, you usually don’t get a full night’s sleep, so you tend to be sleepy. And when you’re sleepy…your eyes frequently become irritated and red.
A pink eye flight is when you still take off at night, but you land much sooner than on a red eye. Sort of “red eye light.” And light red is pink, so….pink eye flight.
Advantages of pink eye flights
People take red eye flights because they tend to be cheaper than flights that occur during the middle of the day. Pink eye flights also tend to cost less than daytime flights, because they’re not as convenient. The lower prices makes them more sellable.
Feature Photo (cropped):
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