UNIT 4.

Fasten your seatbelts

TALKING ABOUT AIR TRAVEL

1 VOCABULARY

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 UNIT 4. Fasten your seatbelts
2 READING
Look at the seating diagram of a plane and the seats marked with a cross. Read the article
about where to sit on a plane and match the seat numbers to the correct paragraphs.

Complete the article with a word from the list.

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 UNIT 4. Fasten your seatbelts
3 LISTENING
You are going to listen to an airline pilot talking on a radio programme. Listen carefully and
take notes to answer the questions.

4 GRAMMAR: Using Past Tenses

Compare the following sentences.
What are the verb tenses in bold? Can you explain the difference in meaning?

My sister arrived at 9.00 pm.

1. When she arrived, we had dinner.
2. When she arrived, we were having dinner.
3. When she arrived, we had already had dinner.
4. When she arrived, we had been waiting for 20 minutes.

1. We use the past simple to talk about consecutive actions or situations which started
and finished in the past, for example, for the main events in a story.

2. We use the past continuous to talk about an action or situation in the past that was in
progress when another action happened.

You can think about it as an action that is “interrupted” by another action. This is a
typical example:
I was having a shower when the phone rang.

We also use the past continuous to set the scene or describe the situation. For example:
It was a cold, dark night. It was raining heavily and the wind was blowing. Suddenly, we
heard a loud noise...

3. We use the past perfect to talk about “the past of the past”: events that happened
before the main events.
When we arrived at the airport we realized that we had left our luggage in the taxi.

4. We used the past perfect continuous with action verbs to talk about actions or
situations that started before the main events happened and continued until that point.
They had been flying for about two hours when the turbulence started.

The past perfect continuous focuses on the process or the “continuation” of the activity,
not on whether it is completed or not. The past perfect simple emphasizes the
“completion” of the activity. For example:
Lina was crying because she had been reading a very sad book.
Lina didn’t want to see the film because she had already read the book.

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 UNIT 4. Fasten your seatbelts
GRAMMAR PRACTICE

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 UNIT 4. Fasten your seatbelts

5 WRITING: A complaint letter

Complaint letters or emails are written to express dissatisfaction with a product or service. This
is one of the typical examples of a formal letter or email that you might have to write.

A formal letter and an email are practically the same. The only difference is that in a letter
we include the address of the sender, the address of the recipient and the date.

EXAMPLE
19 Water Street
Notice the position of:
Manchester
(1) The address of the person who is N22 3B8
Customer Services Department writing the letter.
Paradise Holidays (2) The address of the person or
company the letter is being sent to.
35 Queen’s Road (3) The date
Manchester K35 8FR
5th February 2020

Dear Sir or Madam,

(1) I am writing in connection with the hotel accommodation at the Star Heights Hotel, Cebu
City, Philippines, which I booked through you Queen’s Road Office on 3 January 2020. I regret
to inform you that the information given by your sales assistant was completely misleading.

(2) First of all, I specifically requested a hotel in a quiet location close to a beach, as we have
small children who cannot walk long distances. The sales assistant assured me that the hotel
was located in private gardens and was very close to the beach. Therefore, I was extremely
disappointed to find that the hotel was, in fact, near a very busy motorway and the beach
was nearly three miles away.

(3) My second complaint concerns the swimming pool. Your sales assistant clearly stated that
the hotel had a large swimming pool, which he had used himself the previous year. You might
imagine my dissatisfaction when I saw that the swimming pool was in a state of disrepair and,
according to the hotel staff, had been in this condition for the past three years.

(4) Consequently, we were unable to swim at all during our stay at the hotel, while the
constant noise from the motorway made it difficult to sleep at night. In fact, we were
eventually forced to find alternative accommodation elsewhere at considerable expense.

(5) In the circumstances, I think it would be appropriate for you to refund the cost of the hotel
accommodation in full.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,
Sam Morrison

Match the paragraph numbers (1-5) with their purpose (A-E):

A. To describe another problem in detail.
B. To describe one problem in detail.
C. To explain how the problems affected you.
D. To request compensation.
E. To state the reason why you are writing.

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 UNIT 4. Fasten your seatbelts

STRUCTURE OF A TYPICAL COMPLAINT LETTER OR EMAIL AND USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

Greeting the  Dear Sir / Madam, (when you don’t know the person)
recipient.  Dear Sir, OR Dear Madam, (when you only know the gender)
Choose the most  Dear Mr LastName OR Dear Ms LastName (when you know the last name)
appropriate one.

Paragraph 1:  I am writing in connection with…

Explain the reason for  I am writing in order to complain about…
the letter / email.  I am writing to express my disappointment / dissatisfaction with…

Paragraph 2:  Firstly, / First of all, / In the first place,

Introduce the  My first complaint / concern is…
complaint.  The first thing I would like to draw your attention to is…

Paragraph 3:  Secondly, / In the second place,

Explain further  Moreover, / In addition to this,
complaints.  To make matters worse...

Paragraph 4:  I would be grateful if my money was refunded.

Demand action.  I would be thankful if you could give me a full refund.
Choose the most  I suggest that you give me a partial refund of the money I paid.
suitable one for your
 To resolve this problem, I would like you to replace the item.
complaint.
 If I do not hear from you within ten days, I will file complaints with the
appropriate consumer agencies and consider my legal alternatives.

Ending  I look forward to hearing from you.

Choose the most  Yours sincerely, (if you know the name of the person)
appropriate one  Yours faithfully, (if you don’t know the name of the person).

............................................
ANSWER KEY
TALKING ABOUT AIR TRAVEL
aAPBTCTDPEPFPGTHTIPJP
b 1 The train will now leave from platform 13.
2 The train has been cancelled.
3 The first-class coaches are at the front of the train.
4 You need to change at the next stop (London Bridge).
c 1 On the plane. Relax and enjoy the flight.
2 On the plane. Pay attention to the safety instructions and locate your nearest emergency exit.
3 In the airport terminal. Go to Gate 3 immediately.
4 On the plane. Fasten your seat belts and place all baggage under your seat, put your seats and trays in
the upright position, and turn off all electronic devices.
5 In the airport terminal. Passengers with children and needing special assistance can begin boarding;
have boarding pass and ID ready.
6 On the plane. Please get off the plane by the front or rear exits; remember to take your belongings with
you.

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 UNIT 4. Fasten your seatbelts
VOCABULARY
1 AT THE AIRPORT
a 1 A Airport terminal 2 D Bag drop 3 I Baggage reclaim 4 C Check-in desk 5 J Customs 6 B Departures
board 7 G Gate 8 H Runway 9 E Security 10 F Lounge
2 ON BOARD
a 2 row 3 turbulence 4 cabin crew 5 seat belts 6 direct flights 7 connecting flight 8 long-haul flights 9 jet
lag
3 TRAVEL, TRIP, OR JOURNEY?
a 1 Have a good trip! Hope the weather’s great!
2 A Did you have a good journey here?
B No, my flight was delayed for six hours.
3 Do you have to travel much in your job?
4 We’re going on a five-day trip to the mountains.
Travel is normally used as a verb. However, it can be used as an uncountable noun.
Journey means the time when you travel from one place to another, but does not include the time you
stay there.
The noun trip means to go somewhere and come back, including the time you stay there, e.g. a business
trip.
4 PHRASAL VERBS RELATED TO AIR TRAVEL
a 1 My husband dropped me off at the airport two hours before the flight.
2 I checked in online the day before I was going to fly.
3 As soon as I got on the plane, I put my bag in the overhead locker.
4 The plane took off late because of the bad weather.
5 When I picked up my luggage at baggage reclaim, I bumped into an old friend who had been on the
same flight.
6 I filled in the immigration form for the US, which the cabin crew gave me shortly before landing.
7 When I got off the plane, I felt exhausted after the long flight.
8 My flight arrived really late at night, but luckily, a friend picked me up at the airport.
READING
b If you want a speedy exit 4C If you want to sleep 4L If you don’t like turbulence 11C If you need
more legroom 10L If you want a better dining experience 3J If you’re safety-conscious 21B If you want
to have an empty seat next to you 16J, 16L
c 1 overhead locker 2 altitude 3 cabin 4 low-cost 5 evacuation 6 special assistance 7 engine 8 tail
LISTENING
1 When the wind changes direction very suddenly, especially during take-off and landing.
2 No, it isn’t, though passengers should wear their seat belts.
3 They’re both dangerous, but take-off is slightly more dangerous.
4 Because the crew don’t want passengers to be distracted if there’s an emergency, and they don’t want
the tray tables to get in the way if there’s an evacuation.
5 Yes, definitely, especially to identify the nearest emergency exit.
6 No, never, and he has been flying since he was 16.
GRAMMAR
a 1 were checking in 2 had won 3 had been looking forward to 4 had forgotten 5 had arrived 6 ran 7
went 8 was filling in 9 hurried 10 got
1 I was really fed up because we’d / had been queuing for hours.
2 She went to the police to report that someone had stolen her bag.
3 It’d / had been raining all morning.
4 She got to work late because she’d / had left her phone at home and had had to go back and get it.
5 He’d / had changed a lot since I last saw him.
6 They’d / had been sitting in the sun all morning and they hadn’t put on any sun cream.
7 I could see from their expressions that my parents had been arguing.
8 Jess had a bandage on her arm because she’d / had fallen off her bike that morning.
9 I was amazed because I’d / had never seen such an enormous plane before.
10 How long had you been walking before you realized that you were lost?
b
2 arrived 3 was raining 4 left 5 went 6 got 7 looked 8 had / ’d already checked in 9 were waiting 10
had / ’d given 11 called 12 had / ’d already gone 13 had / ’d been waiting 14 had been reading 15 had
been doing
WRITING
1E 2B 3A 4C 5D

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 UNIT 4. Fasten your seatbelts
EXTRA PRACTICE

VOCABULARY
 https://english-practice.net/learn-vocabulary-through-pictures-airplane-travel/
 https://quizlet.com/457912052/b2-vocabulary-bank-air-travel-flash-cards/
 https://www.educaplay.com/learning-resources/4970722-
pass_the_word_air_travel.html
 https://www.myenglishlanguage.com/essential-vocabulary/travel/
 Vocabulary video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF6fbkE-Qn0

READING
 https://www.examenglish.com/B2/b2_reading_holidays.htm
 https://test-english.com/reading/b2/egypt-travel-guide/
 https://test-english.com/reading/b1-b2/world-walker-reading-test/
 https://www.esleschool.com/reading-use-of-english-part-5/

LISTENING
 https://test-english.com/listening/b2/future-airport-security/
 https://www.examenglish.com/FCE/fce_listening_part2.htm
 https://test-english.com/listening/b1-b2/the-hyperloop/
 https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-
180208
 https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/general-english/video-series/word-
street/transport-and-travel

GRAMMAR
 https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1/past-simple-past-continuous-
past-perfect/
 https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1-b2/narrative-tenses/
 https://test-english.com/writing/b1-b2/narrative-writing-step-by-step/
 Grammar listening:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/course/intermediate/unit-20/session-
2/activity-3

WRITING
 https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/writing/upper-intermediate-b2/a-letter-
of-complaint
 https://english-practice.net/english-writing-exercises-for-b2-a-letter-of-
complaint/
 https://engxam.com/handbook/how-to-write-a-letter-of-complaint-fce-cae-
cpe/

NOTE: Some of the activities in this unit have been adapted from material published and
copyrighted by Oxford University Press for the exclusive use of students in this course.

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