https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/m-flight-attendant-passengers-annoying-141610163.html

Apparently the term, gate lice has been around a long time. Let me quote from the article referenced at the top of the page:

Allegedly coined in a 2005 FlyerTalk discussion thread, “gate lice” refers to passengers who hover around the gate like insects before it’s their turn to board so they can ostensibly secure overhead storage space.

The article goes on and while discussing the pros and cons of the practice, it is generally critical.

My job as a writer in business ethics is not to simply accept what I am told. And I’m not happy about what I’m being told here.

Airline travel has transformed over the years into a difficult and often miserable experience with the principal and only defense of this decline is that it is cheaper. That doesn’t make what the airlines have been doing to cut cots ethical or right.

Why isn’t there enough storage? Do the policies concerning baggage make any sense or are they just a way of generating a new revenue stream?

My general impression isn’t that people are acting badly but are acting in response to how badly the airlines are being run.

You can call them gate lice all you want but what you really have our customers being treated badly.

James Alan Pilant