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Terminal Chaos
Ben Rothke writes "While
Terminal Chaos should be shelved in the current events or
business section of a bookstore, it could also be placed in the modern crime
section. After reading it, one gets the impression
that the state of air traffic today could only come due to criminal neglect
or mischief. If
one looks at pictures of airline flights from the 1960s, you will see
well-dressed passengers enjoying their flight. In
2008, barely a day goes by without an incident of air rage, from irate
passengers in the terminal, to those in the air causing flights to be
diverted. Today's airline traveler considers it a
near miracle if his flight arrives on time with his
baggage." Keep reading for the rest of Ben's review.
Terminal Chaos: Why U.S. Air Travel Is Broken and How to Fix It
author
George Donohue and Russell Shaver
pages
240
publisher
Amer Inst of Aeronautics
rating
10
reviewer
Ben Rothke
ISBN
978-1563479496
summary
Fascinating look at the current state and problems with the US air traffic system
The
reasons for the meltdown in the air traffic system are
complex. The book names a number of reasons for
today's chaos.
Some of these include airline deregulation, multiple governmental
agencies with no central oversight or responsibility, multiple corporate
entities with conflicting agendas, an air traffic controllers union resisting
change, a technologically outdated air traffic control system, and
more.
While the public perception in the US is that somewhere out there, government officials are looking out for passenger's rights, the reality is there is no one looking out for them. Unlike their European counterparts, air travelers in the US have very few rights. This lack of passenger advocacy along with the other reasons has a huge impact on the economy, in addition to the costs that flight delays and cancellations cost U.S. travelers, which are estimated annually at over $3 billion.
Terminal Chaos: Why U.S. Air Travel Is Broken and How to Fix It is a fascinating book. The authors show a number of ways to fix the current problems. While the book is part case-study, it is also part tragedy, given the tragedy is that Washington lacks anyone with the pragmatism, willpower and audacity to stand up to the unions and powers that be to fix the system. The book lays out in 7 concise chapters the problems, ringleaders, obstacles and challenges that brought us to the state that we are in today.
The authors sum it up best when they note that the distance from New York to Chicago is 635 nautical miles, and when flown by a piston-powered DC-6 with a cruise speed of 315 MPH over 50 years ago, the scheduled flight time was a little longer than two hours. Today, scheduled airlines fly Boeing 737 turbofans at 511 MPH, but book this as a 3-hour flight.
In chapter 4, the authors note that while some flight delays are the result of post-9/11 security issues, the main reason why flying has become so arduous is that the air transportation system, as it is now structured in the US, is untenable from a fundamental business point of view. The government regulated business model is unstable and irrational and planes are purposely overbooked, flights are cancelled for no publicly explainable reason, and no one will offer the flier a sound reason for why these events occur.
Both authors are professors at the Center for Air Transportation Systems research at George Mason University. The book quotes from research done there, which includes suggestions such as to use larger aircraft (something Continental is doing at Newark), along with other market mechanisms. Other research shows that slot exemption, weight-based landing fees and other issues combine to lead to inefficient use of airport capacity, especially as slot-controlled airports, such as O'Hare, Kennedy, Newark, LaGuardia and Atlanta.
In chapter 6, the authors take a no-holds barred approach to NATCA, which is the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. They view NATCA as a stumbling block to modernization, and an organization whose goal is to protect their members, over the public they are supposed to serve. They also question how NATCA gets away with constantly stating that the US air traffic control system is the safest in the world, when it is actually behind Europe when it comes to safety metrics (Europe has .032 hull losses per 1 million departures vs. .049 in North America).
Ultimately, the book notes that the air traffic control problems exist in the fact that there is a perfect storm of airlines, airports, government agencies (FAA, DOT, OMB, DHS), White House and Congress, all of which seem to believe that they don't have the responsibility to fix the problem. Each seems to be waiting for someone else to take charge.
Chapter 7 lists a number of practical ways in which the air traffic control system can be modernized. Some of the suggestions would require significant financial outlays; others simply require all of the parties involved to play nicely together.
Overall, Terminal Chaos is a landmark book, in that it cuts through the complexity of the air traffic mess, and clearly lays out the problem, and possible solutions.
It is a very well-written and extremely well-researched book. It does have a few slight errors. Most noticeably on page 73 when it says that Continental has been in and out of bankruptcy court, while the table on the next page shows that Continental has been out of bankruptcy court for over 15 years. Also, one of the travel tips the authors give is to have a traveler consider using a private aircraft out of smaller, less congested airports. That is indeed a good suggestion, albeit extremely costly, and not financially feasible for most of the flying public.
Terminal Chaos is a book that should be required reading for anyone involved in air traffic and aviation, from passengers to every employee at the FAA. The authors have innovative ideas that should be listened to and implemented; from holding the government decision-makers responsible, to realistic ways to modernizing the air traffic control system. The book is a fascinating overview of what goes on in the skies above us, and in the air traffic control towers around us.
Ben Rothke is the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know.
You can purchase Terminal Chaos: Why U.S. Air Travel Is Broken and How to Fix It from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
While the public perception in the US is that somewhere out there, government officials are looking out for passenger's rights, the reality is there is no one looking out for them. Unlike their European counterparts, air travelers in the US have very few rights. This lack of passenger advocacy along with the other reasons has a huge impact on the economy, in addition to the costs that flight delays and cancellations cost U.S. travelers, which are estimated annually at over $3 billion.
Terminal Chaos: Why U.S. Air Travel Is Broken and How to Fix It is a fascinating book. The authors show a number of ways to fix the current problems. While the book is part case-study, it is also part tragedy, given the tragedy is that Washington lacks anyone with the pragmatism, willpower and audacity to stand up to the unions and powers that be to fix the system. The book lays out in 7 concise chapters the problems, ringleaders, obstacles and challenges that brought us to the state that we are in today.
The authors sum it up best when they note that the distance from New York to Chicago is 635 nautical miles, and when flown by a piston-powered DC-6 with a cruise speed of 315 MPH over 50 years ago, the scheduled flight time was a little longer than two hours. Today, scheduled airlines fly Boeing 737 turbofans at 511 MPH, but book this as a 3-hour flight.
In chapter 4, the authors note that while some flight delays are the result of post-9/11 security issues, the main reason why flying has become so arduous is that the air transportation system, as it is now structured in the US, is untenable from a fundamental business point of view. The government regulated business model is unstable and irrational and planes are purposely overbooked, flights are cancelled for no publicly explainable reason, and no one will offer the flier a sound reason for why these events occur.
Both authors are professors at the Center for Air Transportation Systems research at George Mason University. The book quotes from research done there, which includes suggestions such as to use larger aircraft (something Continental is doing at Newark), along with other market mechanisms. Other research shows that slot exemption, weight-based landing fees and other issues combine to lead to inefficient use of airport capacity, especially as slot-controlled airports, such as O'Hare, Kennedy, Newark, LaGuardia and Atlanta.
In chapter 6, the authors take a no-holds barred approach to NATCA, which is the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. They view NATCA as a stumbling block to modernization, and an organization whose goal is to protect their members, over the public they are supposed to serve. They also question how NATCA gets away with constantly stating that the US air traffic control system is the safest in the world, when it is actually behind Europe when it comes to safety metrics (Europe has .032 hull losses per 1 million departures vs. .049 in North America).
Ultimately, the book notes that the air traffic control problems exist in the fact that there is a perfect storm of airlines, airports, government agencies (FAA, DOT, OMB, DHS), White House and Congress, all of which seem to believe that they don't have the responsibility to fix the problem. Each seems to be waiting for someone else to take charge.
Chapter 7 lists a number of practical ways in which the air traffic control system can be modernized. Some of the suggestions would require significant financial outlays; others simply require all of the parties involved to play nicely together.
Overall, Terminal Chaos is a landmark book, in that it cuts through the complexity of the air traffic mess, and clearly lays out the problem, and possible solutions.
It is a very well-written and extremely well-researched book. It does have a few slight errors. Most noticeably on page 73 when it says that Continental has been in and out of bankruptcy court, while the table on the next page shows that Continental has been out of bankruptcy court for over 15 years. Also, one of the travel tips the authors give is to have a traveler consider using a private aircraft out of smaller, less congested airports. That is indeed a good suggestion, albeit extremely costly, and not financially feasible for most of the flying public.
Terminal Chaos is a book that should be required reading for anyone involved in air traffic and aviation, from passengers to every employee at the FAA. The authors have innovative ideas that should be listened to and implemented; from holding the government decision-makers responsible, to realistic ways to modernizing the air traffic control system. The book is a fascinating overview of what goes on in the skies above us, and in the air traffic control towers around us.
Ben Rothke is the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know.
You can purchase Terminal Chaos: Why U.S. Air Travel Is Broken and How to Fix It from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Airline passengers were the very wealthy elites, now they're not.
Air flight is cheap enough that it has become the trailways bus of today. The reason everything was so nice and dressed up because it was so expensive it selected out the riff-raff.
I know it doesn't fit the current lefty memes, but deregulation made air flight the everyman's mode of transportation.
The reason there are so many problems is that the cost is too cheap.
The price per ticket isn't enough to cover the cost of doing business, so more and more items get cut.
Boarding because a cattle car types of efficiency, service goes down, everybody becomes rushed, the aircraft become packed, and so on.
Don't get me wrong, flying 1000 miles for 3 hundred bucks round trip is great, but lets not kid ourselves. If we want service to go back to the 1960s level of service, the costs should at least be as much as it was in 1960s plus inflation and fuel cost increases.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
While I don't dispute that unions are sometimes a problem, I wonder how much the union is to blame in this case. One hears regular reports of understaffing and impossible work conditions for air traffic controllers, and these seem quite plausible given what an intricate and high-stress job it is together with the antiquated computer systems they have to use, which don't provide very good support. Back in 1980 the main issue in the air traffic controllers' strike was working conditions, not wages and benefits. When Reagan broke the union and fired the air traffic controllers, wasn't that a huge blow to reform?
If one looks at pictures of airline flights from the 1960s, you will see well-dressed passengers enjoying their flight.
I beg to differ!.
In any case, some of it is probably just a reaction to more modern events and mindsets. Nowadays, instead of "Oh, it's a distraught passenger who doesn't like flying" it's "OMGTERRORIST". Airlines overbooking flights and employing shoddy baggage handling techniques doesn't help anything either.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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Airlines? For a moment I thought the title was about utf-8 and scandinavian alphabet configuration mayhem in terminal emulators.
I fly every week, I have never seen a case of air rage, and I have never lost a bag. I think that the case is over stated.
It is true that there are too many small flights, which waste both gas and airport slots. But the overall system works decently well IMHO.
Ultra low prices = ultra lean operations = less employees = ultra lack of service = pissed off customers. How stupid is the airline race to the bottom? Flying is not a right, just like driving. Raise the prices and those who can't afford it well, take a bus, train or ship.
Did you ever wake up in the morning, with a Zombie Woof behind your eyes? -- FZ
If I'd be forced to guess I would say that the security theater methods actually increase violence on the plane, due to people getting annoyed and doing stupid things. Therefor this security measure might actually cost lives, instead of saving them.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Don't rabid anti-smoking laws even get acknowledged?
When you talk about irritable passengers, you have to at least give a nod to the two pack a day man who has to go without a fix from the time he arrives at the airport until he departs. Maybe he'll get lucky and he can go sit in the bullet-proof glassed room with it's own ventilation system, but even that has to annoy him quite a bit.
Isn't there a lot of tobacco use in the Mideast? Are we really sure that terrorism isn't just a form of protesting the loss of a man's right to give himself lung cancer anywhere he chooses?
A couple of 30-somethings embark on the ultimate roadtrip
The more the goddamn airlines nickel and dime us to death, the less we'll fly, and the less money they'll make. Hello vicious circle. And screw the damn airlines. I haven't enjoyed getting on a plane since the early 80s when I proudly flew Braniff...
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
..."hull loss" generally means either "we are picking up fragments of the aircraft with tweezers" or "ooops, was that the end of the runway?", any achievable value is higher than you'd like. In fact, as a function of overall system quality, the measured value will be asymtotic to some non-zero value that is the practical "best" you can theoretically achieve. You will never reach this "best" value, it is only theoretical, but you can get as close to it as you like. Since this is the "best", however, the metric should be relative to it and not to zero. It's senseless to measure relative to a value substantially lower than the achievable limit. It's like talking about negative degrees kelvin, it has no meaning.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
How are unions to blame for whatever is wrong with flying in the US?
Football Odds
You've gone from an argument about the U.S. to cite statistics from North America - which, as you may have noticed, contains other nations. And you've not taken into account differences of flight distances or number of passengers per flight; I would think a much more useful number would be deaths per passenger-mile.
If you're directly quoting an argument from the book, this puts s large hole in its credibility.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
barely a day goes by without an incident of air rage
That's because 40 years ago, someone who started pitching a violent and/or profane fit in close quarters where other people had paid for a service (like watching a movie or traveling for a few hours) could reasonably expect a sound thumping from someone willing to shut them up. And no jury in the world would give the person doing the thumping a hard time. Shame used to be a useful tool. There was a time when acting like an ass in public carried with it a certain stigma. Now it's celebrated in the news, and is a point of pride in many a music video. This is simply about bad manners made the norm, and a culture of victimhood-as-virtue that provides cover for every mis-step (including the deliberate variety), and which condems anyone looking to deny someone that cover as being somehow cruel. We've become a coddling culture, and this is the price we pay. It's no mystery. Every one of those screaming kids you see in the grocery store today will become the asshat in seat 30B on your flight to Chicago.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Amtrak has their head up their butt. But there are a hell of a lot of other transit systems out there. And they're all dealing with swiftly increasing demand. It's past time that we shone the spotlight on them.
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
The title is: "Terminal Chaos: Why U.S. Air Travel Is Broken and How to Fix It", emphasis mine.
Yes, yes, I know.. I shouldn't be another one of us here who fly the European flag in discussions. But...
I tend to expect my flights on time because they usually are, on short-haul they often arrive prior to schedule. I get excellent service even on the budget flights.. the drinks might cost me but I get them just fine. Except for Sky Alliance flights (KLM-AirFrance, Delta) I expect my luggage to arrive with me.
Security is a bit of a nuisance, but I experience longer queues for most concerts, football matches, and so on.
Then again, this has always been my experience outside of Europe as well, so maybe I'm just very lucky?
And reading it, passing it around, and, if it's as good as this review makes it sound, getting a copy for policy folks working for *my* congresscritters.
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
In 1950 an airline ticket was $325... or about $2800 adjusted for today's dollars... So there was a slightly different class of people
additionally there were significantly LESS people per flight, per terminal, and per airline.
Maybe a better comparison would be modern Airlines to 1960s busses.
... what can be safely explained by bumbling bureaucratic government incompetence.
Part of the Second American Revolution!
Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
The full name of the publisher is American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
One of the biggest issues is the lack of ground resource capacity (runways, taxiways, gates, etc). Today's planes spend a huge amount of time waiting on the ground. This is one reason that a 2 hour flight 50 years ago is scheduled as a 3 hour flight today, despite the air speed difference.
The only way to solve this particular problem is to either a) build new airports, or b) expand existing airports. Everyone seems to want more efficient airline service, but no one wants a new/expanded airline in their neighborhood.
Just one would be a nice start.
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
In the 1960s only the "Jet Set" flew.
You want to avoid the air rage, the airport queues, etc. then do what the modern Jet Set do - get yourself a jet. Problem solved.
No sig today...
from: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/why-trains-just-dont-work-in-america/
I just want to make it clear from the outset: I love trains. When I lived in New York and Connecticut, I rode trains regularly, just because I like them; they're far more comfortable that flying, and you don't have the hassles. I could walk to Penn Station, walk onto a train, and be in Washington or Boston or Hartford or Pittsburgh in a few hours, with pleasant scenery and the real chance of pleasant companionship. When I lived in Germany, I used the train to visit my employer's home office in Paris: I could pick up the Schlafwagen in Basel, sleep overnight, and be in Paris when I woke up. My grandfather was part owner of the shortest main-line railroad in the world; when my peers were playing with toy trains, I was playing on a real 2-8-0 Baldwin steam engine built in 1890. I really like trains.
So when Megan McArdle says "America's freight rail system ... is world-class. Its passenger rail should be too," I'm naturally inclined to agree with her. It positively breaks my heart to have to say "no, actually it shouldn't. Passenger rail is almost certainly never going to work again, at least as a national transport system."
As usual, what's thwarting my dreams of elegant dinners in the first-class dining car with Myrna Loy is arithmetic. Well, that and the fact that Myrna Loy died in 1993. Let's just compare passenger trains and airplanes on three trips I'm likely to take for business in the next few months: Denver to Los Angeles, Denver to New York City, and Denver to Washington, DC.
For purposes of comparison, I'm taking cost and travel time from the Amtrak website and the Frontier Airlines website, traveling to arrive at the destination city on July 15, 2008, and leave for home on July 18; if there are any options, I'm taking the least expensive routing. Travel times are totaled for the round trip, and include three hours per flight added for getting to the airport and getting through security, and transit time from the airport to and from the city center on each trip. Notice, by the way, that this gives trains an inherent advantage, since the train station is usually in the city center.The table tells the tale, I think. The train is from one and a half to five times as expensive, and takes four and a half to five times as long, turning a four-day trip into seven or eight days.
Actually, with things as they are, more and more Republicans *are* backing rail. I damn near sprayed soda when I read that Trent Lott was one of the backers of the recent move to increase funding for Amtrak. When people with money start taking trains, as has now happened, Republicans suddenly start to care about rail service. Whodathunk?
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
Is that whether we like it or not, our lifestyles have made air travel into a necessity for many. Sure, you can drive from New York to LA, but would that make sense if you're going there for a business trip?
While it is true that flight used to be a privilege for the wealthy elite, there is a lot more expected out of everyone now. My wife has already flown three times for business this year, and myself once. And our combined income doesn't reach six figures before taxes. Add to that flights to visit family (within very narrow vacation schedules), and you see that our lives have come to be dependent on the ability to fly to our destination.
Lastly I will add that some airlines provide a very reasonable level of service for the dollar. Others, of course, treat customers like cattle. Oddly enough, one of the ones that does not treat me like cattle comes from a state that raises a lot of cattle - and the converse also applies. I had a 1.5 hour layover in EWR two weeks ago, and the airline even gave the waiting passengers free soda and pretzels for our inconvenience. Of course that didn't cost them much, but I would say it helped quite a bit in calming the masses.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
AMEN! Mod this up! +Insightful
-Those who know do not say, Those who say do not know
^^^^
This guy just gets it.
He groks.
He knows where his towel is.
Yeah! That's what we need. Let's thaw out The Duke, and let him and John Cassavetes, and Lee Marvin, and Charles Bronson, and Clint Eastwood, and Chuck Norris be on all the flights they can cover. That will make air travel safer and more enjoyable. At least on those flights.
Here's an amusing site y'all can slashdot, comparing flying the 1960s to the present. A few points the guy makes:
Flying was expensive. For example: A round trip ticket between Cleveland and Washington D.C. was about $75. This doesn't sound like a bad deal, until you adjust the fare for inflation: That's over $400 in today's dollars! By contrast, I recently paid less than $100 for a round trip between Cleveland and Washington on one of today's low-cost deregulated carriers.
There was no point in shopping around for the best deal, because all airfares were controlled by regulation. If a roundtrip ticket between Cleveland and Washington was $75 on one airline, it was $75 on all the airlines.
The vast majority of the passengers were businessmen. White male businessmen. Occasional families. Very few minorities, and virtually no women travelling independently.
Food and drinks were almost always served, no matter how short the flight. Because there was no price competition, the airlines had to compete based on service. It was amazing to watch the stewardesses hustle to serve everyone on a quick trip, while constantly tugging at their skirts to retain some modesty.
Sure, that sounds high-class, I guess, if you were a member of the flying aristocracy.
"...The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing: finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner!"
OK, air travel has become a horror. But "criminal neglect"? It's not "criminal" that passengers are miserable. "Criminal" would be planes falling out of the sky. But in fact you're safer flying across the country than you are driving to work. Or, if you believe some statistics, brushing your teeth.
I used to love flying; now you couldn't get me on a plane without putting a gun to my head. But as long as people make their travel decisions based primarily on price, airlines have no incentive to make things better. I wouldn't argue with a few protective laws and regulations, but airlines' failure to unilaterally improve things in a hypercompetitive market is a matter of economics, not "criminal neglect".
How they ever got back up the River Styx I'll never know. Like the lamebrains at United with their expansion hopes and boorish customer service treatment for the past decade.... the current head of US Airways that want to merge with anybody, please, anybody, all while driving profits and service to the bottom of the list with United. Remember Ted?
A lot of these airlines don't deserve to be in business. I say: let them go bankrupt and good riddance to bad and boorish service and death by a thousand cuts attitude towards their customers and their own staff.
Mod me troll, but the airlines have to rethink what they're doing, if we're going to survive them.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
I have to agree.
I've flown in Europe and Asia as well as here in the USA, and I have to say that it's the worst in the USA.
US: Four hour flight - peanuts and a diet coke.
In the UK I had a flight delayed due to a medical emergency on the plane that was going to be the plane for my flight back to the USA. I don't know if it was the airline or the airport, but either way all of the passengers were given a good-sized voucher for a meal. I was stuffed and not at all thirsty and still had "money" left on the voucher, so it clearly covered that need nicely.
Japan: connecting flight was late. When you are landing from an international flight it doesn't matter if you're just leaving Japan again, you still need to go through security to board another plane. They set up two separate security queues for us to make sure we made our connecting flight to China.
China: Only ever had two delays, one was about 30 minutes with an reason and the other was a couple of hours - no reason needed - the storm was obvious. Two hour flight that happened to be over lunch time - full meal (and quite good, actually - China Southern Airlines). Four hour flight near dinner - full meal again. Both flights had two rounds of drinks and snacks.
The USA's airlines can learn a few things from other nations' airlines.
I read the internet for the articles.
The reasons for the meltdown in the air traffic system are complex. The book names a number of reasons for today's chaos. Some of these include airline deregulation, multiple governmental agencies with no central oversight or responsibility, multiple corporate entities with conflicting agendas, an air traffic controllers union resisting change, a technologically outdated air traffic control system, and more.
A round trip flight from NYC to LA in 1965 cost $220. That's $1,450 in 2007 dollars. Now that same flight runs $375.
The air travel industry and infrastructure is being run on a shoestring budget compared to the "glory days" of flying. You get what you pay for.
Coding with assembly is like playing with Legos. Coding an application in assembly is like building a car with Legos.
> Why are bus and train routes on time more often than planes?
Never ridden Amtrak, have you? Sometimes the train just doesn't even show up!
Which sort of puzzles me. How do you lose a train?
Or he can just buy the patch of some Nicorette gum. Problem solved.
Your accusation of daily air rage, irate terminal passengers, and diverted flight does not correlate with reality. Do these incidents happen? Absolutely. Do they happen with the frequency you suggest? Not even close.
Further, you seem to place the blame for the above incidents on the airlines alone. As others in this thread have pointed out, comparing 21st-century air travel with the 1950's is absurd. Flying back then was a novelty only enjoyed by those with means. Today, any beer-swilling, uncouth, unwashed, uneducated thug can hop on a plane for what would've been pennies on the inflation-adjusted dollar. This is one reason why I pay for my own upgrades to business class while on business travel. The folks you sit with in business class tend to be (but not always are) polite, educated, and considerate. The legroom and free drinks are just perks compared to not having to deal with someone's advanced case of body odor and lack of manners.
As for baggage handling issues, that's as much the fault of the airport as it is the airline. Of course, what do you expect when the whole darn thing is run by unions? Incompetent, lazy workers are difficult to fire. Hardworking, intelligent ones have to wait in line to get promoted due to union seniority rules.
Another thing: what ever happened to requiring the passenger to be something above the level of a dolt when it comes to carryon baggage and airport security screening? How hard is it to read the damned signs saying "take out your laptops and toiletry items" and "take off your shoes, jackets, and blazers"? Security screeners aren't terribly polite, I'll hand you that, but then again they have to deal with the idiots who march right up to the metal detector wearing shoes, a pound of metal jewelry, and leaving their laptop and/or liquids in their baggage.
Last, consider what you're getting for your dollar. Fuel costs are murdering the airlines right now, yet ticket costs have not kept pace. What do you think that shortfall comes out of?
Airlines are businesses. They must make a profit or go out of business. If customers are so darned unhappy with what they're getting for their money, they're free to try other modes of transportation (bus! Fun!) or go try and start their own airline that does things they way they want them done -- and then go bankrupt.
In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I mean... apart from the fact that I don't believe in precognition, would the multihuman mass organism even fit on the plane?
Then again, having all the asshats combined into a single giant being might be good as it makes it a single, slow moving target. :-) Or Voltron. Whatever.
Most airlines I've flown with show higher "on time" numbers than the Dutch railways (they are now but have been struggling to reach the mandated 86% while we are repeatedly mentioned to have one of the world's most efficient networks).
It happened to me once, to Moscow. I was offered a replacement flight the same day and only because my visum was about to expire I had not a single hour to spare - our fault (business trip). It happened to a friend of mine once - we rebooked the flight to another BA one ten minutes later.
You don't want to know how often I've had a scheduled train exceed that amount of delay or not even showing up at all. The same for metro, tram or bus services. Obviously I travel more by "regular" public transportation than plane, but I'm really not convinced there's a huge difference per mile/km travelled.
I hardly know of any business that doesn't attempt some sort of useless loyalty programme. And frankly, usually I am disappointment when none is available.
I'm sorry to hear that. I make at least twenty different legs a year and maybe one or two of them cause me a delay. Most of my time wasted travelling by plane is by getting there too early because I don't trust getting there on time - blame that on the other forms of transportation.
If you book your entire flight at once, most airliners offer you compensation. I must admit I'm specifically lucky here, my bank/creditcard company insures me against delays, I get a huge (more than enough) compensation in case I am forced to get a hotel or buy new clothes and toiletries in case of luggage delay. But I must concede the authors could be right here, I believe this is a good European law where airliners are required to compensate you.
Never have I felt this way, except maybe when a combined fire and late arrival delayed a flight of mine after stores had closed at the gate (11pm-ish) and we weren't allowed back to the terminal for refreshments even with the two-hour delay. I filed a complaint and got 50% of my total fare back - the full 100% share of that return leg.
Maybe there's US companies are allowed to treat customers as crap at greater liberty (pun intended), but I seriously doubt it is typical of air travel alone. (Our national railways are required to give refunds as well in case of severe delays. I tried but failed when my 10pm Amtrak train showed up in South Carolina three hours late.)
(Sidenote: I miss the days when travelling to the US was something one would do for fun, in my case 1997/2001/2002. Continental didn't give me my luggage in 2002 when transferring in Atlanta and entering the country, nobody at customs gave me a hard time for entering the country for three weeks without any luggage and in San Francisco it took me all of ten minutes to asked what to do because it also wasn't there. Actually I pretty much assumed that I could just report it, go to my friends and have it deliver ASAP, which is indeed how these things work.
"Terminal chaos" has nothing to do with airliners and airports but much more with those inhabitants of this planet who are so braindead to cause a riot when they aren't sure whether they packed a toothbrush while they really aren't going anywhere where they couldn't buy a new one in virtually every street.
Remember this every time you hear "Mr. Bla, you must board immediately, we're already offloading your luggage" through the terminal speakers, look around you, and then be amazed how airports can function so well with all the idiots using them.
I'm a field engineer that flies to a different spot every week, 5 out of 6 weeks all year long.
None of my flights this year have been on time.
Not... A... Single... One...
I've spent more nights in Atlanta than I ever wanted too thanks to ATL, Delta, and the nightmare that is the entire northeast United States ATC right now.
It's gotten to a point where I'm considering a 33% pay cut just to stop traveling.
Its = possessive. It's = "it is"
I hear alot about how bad air travel is, but I don't see it. I fly about six times a year and have been for the last decade. The only increased hassle I have noticed is with the TSA checkpoints and those have basically remained consistent for the last five years (I now plan a stop at a drug store into my first day at my destination, big deal). My planes arrive within an hour of their scheduled time, okay so they aren't usually on-time, but if it is important for me to get there at a certain I time I plan accordingly. In particular if I stand to lose money if I'm late I arrive quite a bit early. I've lost one bag in my decade of flying and while it did take a week to get back to me, it didn't really matter because there wasn't anything important in it: because any fool knows you carry the important stuff with you or better yet leave it at home.
The biggest hassles have been caused by weather but I'm hardly going to declare air-travel defunct because I have problems for three months a year.
I'll check out the book because it sounds interesting, but I think the claim that Air travel is really that bad is just hype from the media, i.e. a few bad stories blown out of proportion, together with the same angry people I see driving on our roads just looking for something and someone to be upset with.
There are all holding out as long as they can, and they are hoping most of their competitor go out of business before they do. When there are only 2-3 airline companies left, the prices will shoot up.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It's broken because no one owns it and has ultimate responsibility.
No one wants to stick their neck out to push the others into fixing it because they'd get blamed for every little thing that went wrong.
No one wants the others to fix it because they don't want the others to get credit.
It's the tragedy of the commons.
It's the same problem with schools: teachers unions and school boards don't want to take the blame and don't want the other to get credit, so neither makes any move for fear of being blamed and each jumps on the other negatively to prevent the other getting any credit.
Infuriate left and right
You're sure right about that. We're raising a generation of 300 pound emotional-toddlers; how the hell do you EXPECT them to act any time their will is thwarted? especially since there are so many gov't agencies devoted to wasting everyone's time, thus setting off those toddler-tantrums.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
I personally don't enjoy the actual act of riding/driving/flying from point A to point B in most cases. I consider it a waste of my time and hence my life. If I want to stop a bunch of places along the way I'd prefer it be intentional. You may feel differently and that's fine. I would like to spend my life doing the things I enjoy, not the things you think I should enjoy. Riding a vehicle somewhere is not what I personally enjoy.
So far, I am seriously delayed (meaning by more than 20 minutes) about twice a year. If only the trains I ride (in the NE US corridor, Asia, or the EU) and buses (here in Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, Brussels, Paris, and Berlin) were only so regular.
Additionally, on the two times in the last 3 years where my delay was significant and would result in me missing another connection or critical meeting, the airline located an alternate airline for me, booked me, and gave me a meal coupon to boot.
Would I rather not have to change? Sure! But if there's a screwup at least the airlines own up to it and do what they can to make it right (NOTE: to get this treatment you need to be calm and courteous to the counter staff - seriously, it does work).
I can't remember the last time a bus driver apologized for being late or missing a connection, or a conductor re-booked my tickets because we were late coming out of Zurich.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
...air traffic controllers union resisting change, a technologically outdated air traffic control system... Air traffic controllers are a very conservative bunch. They don't like change. They like to test things *heavily* before putting them into regular use. I like it that way.I briefly worked in ATC research. Whatever neat computer system the scientists came up with, the controllers would look at and say "what do we do when it fails?". And they're serious. If the radars go down they can manage a sector by memory and radio comms. It's very impressive. There are lots of shiney new technology-based answers that just aren't reliable enough. The trouble is, too many people are flying.
At first glance, I thought that it was a case of Konsole killing someone. (Running reiserfs anybody?.....anybody? Aww, too soon?)
i rented a room with one of the replacements...he told me that not only do they swing shifts _weekly_ (and it takes @ least 2 weeks to adjust to a time shift of that magnitude) they also swing forward: working an earlier shift, even though it's easier to adjust to a later shift (just as it's easier to fly west than east).
thus the faa deliberately kept its atcs in a state of sleep-deprivation, jeopardizing not only their health, but also the safety of the airline passengers:-(
I'm betting you've never ridden Greyhound...
On time, my rear... and the drivers and staff are hostile to those with disabilites to boot.
Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
Says who? I just booked on United BWI to ORD (a longer distance) it says 2 hours 3 minutes on the itinerary.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
"Business people need to get over this prehistoric desire to go pick fleas off fellow apes if they want to sign deals with them."
Hehehe, well, unlike you, those business executives have a craving for EATING those fleas. There aren't yet any palatable digital fleas to pick or eat. I guess these are nit-picky/flea-picking execs?
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
A round trip flight from NYC to LA in 1965 cost $220. That's $1,450 in 2007 dollars. Now that same flight runs $375.
How much was a computer in 1965? How much is that in 2008 dollars? How much is a computer today?
Guess that means no one has a right to complain about Vista or any other PC issues.
Or it could mean, technology advances and efficency improves. As an employee in 2008, I provide more value for less money than the worker in 1965. As a customer, I expect the same.
Taking a train need not take time. Using the example in the article, if Chicago-New York is 635 nautical miles (=1,175km) then modern trains like the TGV can travel that distance in 4 hours (that is assuming the operating speed of 320km/h, not the max speed of 574.8 km/h). If current flights are scheduled at 3 hours then in this case a train would be far faster since there is no need to arrive 1-2 hours beforehand for your body cavity search plus you start and end at stations which, at least for Chicago, are in the city centre. Other advantages are onboard power, WiFi, cellphone coverage, something to look at out of the window etc.
It's true that the monetary cost of setting up such a network is not trivial but if you factor in the environmental cost of planes the question you might want to ask is can you afford not to?
Overall, the entire history of aviation is a slight financial loss. Someone worked that out around 2000, before 9/11. It's striking how many airlines go bankrupt. We've lost two so far this year (Aloha and ATA), and those are just the ones that ceased operations outright.
Even if this were true (and I think not,) I find it disturbing that someone would wax nostalgic about assault being a socially acceptable way to deal with public annoyances.
Public stoning used to be a useful tool as well, but we have (hopefully) evolved beyond such crude methods.
Should I get off your lawn now?
It sounds like empathy isn't one of your strong suits, so I won't ask you to have some for the parents of said kids, even though _every_ toddler in existence has freaked out in public when it it is least convenient to his/her parents, at least once.
Whether you like it or not, children are going to behave like children. The Victorian-era belief that children should be seen and not heard is long gone, and rightly so. However, there will be times when a child's age-appropriate behaviour is undesirable. At those times, adults need to behave like adults. The child is not deliberately trying to offend, so the grown-ups should act their age. The inconvenience is only temporary, so deal with it.
And yes, I have been stuck on a transatlantic flight with a colicky infant in the seat behind me.
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
It's just that it is now The Free Market (righter of wrongs, able to fix ANY PROBLEM).
Oh, and while I'm here, saying "The ticket price then is $2000 in today's money" please add in how much it cost for a plane then "in today's money". How much it cost to build an airport "in today's money" and how much it cost to run "in today's money".
The profit margins weren't much different in them days.
So, despite a "small" profit, they managed their airlines better.
Easy solution to that - Everything except for airlines, military, and air ambulance flights need to be banned. There's no reason that rich corporate fatcats with private jets should be able to jump the security lines anyway. Private airplanes make up 75% of all flights. Ground them all and the system will improve. (Or at the very least, all those rich types will get pissed off at the airlines and MAKE things improve.) It'll decrease noise and environmental pollution as well, and free up all those countless small airports for more useful land development. Sounds win-win to me, but it won't happen because the AOPA (The NRA of the air) will never give up their precious flying SUVs.
The europeans have severely curtailed private flight, and instituted a strict (and very expensive) set of fees and restrictions to keep it in check. That's why their system is the envy of the world and ours looks like the stone age. Most of our jets still rely on radar to navigate, they aren't even using GPS. (My Prius has more advanced navigation than a Boeing 747. Good going, FAA!)
The US is much less religious than it was 50 years ago. It is also much less civil than it was 50 years ago. So the historical trend in the US backs the grandparent's point; the current geographical data backs the parent's point. Now what?
And, by the way, if your religion makes you less civil to unbelievers, then your religion needs help. I admit that some religious people are like that, but then, some atheists aren't very civil to non-atheists either...
I wouldn't say it's a case of "a technologically outdated air traffic control system", as you wouldn't believe the amount of money that gets poured into the business. On the whole the actual tech isn't that bad/old but there is a lot of "If it isn't broke, don't fix it" mentality, which I totally believe in. The other problem with new equipment is that there are so many rules and regulations it's very hard for equipment/software to be certified for use. The area where modern technology can play a big role is in radar tracking. I remember seeing one tracking system that took up an entire rack, with 5-6 servers, yet could only efficiently track a small number of planes accurately and they all required 'tinkering' to get the best results. One thing that did surprise me was the fact that because a typical ATC screen has 2048x2048 pixels (they are square because historically they used circular radar sweeps), they don't have a reliable method to record the video signal going to the monitor. Hence, most ATC recording systems relying on 'sniffing' the data as it goes through the graphics processor and then replaying it at a later date. This causes all sorts of problems, like tracks not being displayed exactly the same etc etc A lot of the places I went into had billions of $'s worth of equipment, yet they still passed around bits of wood with flight strips on them. Paper doesn't crash.
Having lived through his administration, I'd have to say that that's pretty much correct. GWB makes him look like Mother Theresa by comparison, of course...
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
I find it disturbing that someone would wax nostalgic about assault being a socially acceptable way to deal with public annoyances
So, instead, you find assault by someone ELSE to be acceptable, because they're in a bad mood? Having someone scream at you, throw things, shove people out of their way, physically harass flight attendants, etc... THAT's OK, but laying a hand on them to get them to stop? The horror! Lock those people AWAY for looking to keep civilization civilized without having to call in a public servant, who will arrive in an hour or so. Maybe.
Should I get off your lawn now?
That's your response to a description of a culture that coddles people having angry, violent fits in public? That only unreasonable old people who don't want their property vandalized would also be upset about watching a retail clerk or a flight attendant get abused?
It sounds like empathy isn't one of your strong suits
No, it sounds like YOU are the one with misplaced empathy. You have zero empathy for the 100 people that one loudmouthed, obnoxious jerk can impact when no one stops them from going on some "rage" because they're displeased with the size of their peanut bag, or can't grasp why they shouldn't talk loudly through your $10 movie.
I won't ask you to have some for the parents of said kids
Why? I imagine that some of them - while having been shamed out of ever disciplining their kids - are none the less embarassed by the little punks they've raised. I have a lot of empathy for them, since they're surrounded by teachers, preachers, shrinks, and PBS specials that seek to drown out their commons sense.
_every_ toddler in existence has freaked out in public when it it is least convenient to his/her parents
Yes, and those parents used to grab that kid and march them right out of the movie, or not buy them the ice cream they're screaming about. And where do you draw the line on your use of the word "toddler," anyway? I'm talking about kids as old as 6 or 8 or 10+.
The child is not deliberately trying to offend
No, the child is usually trying to manipulate the parent into a desired action (or cease an undesired action). And parents give in. Big time. As a result, that sense of entitlement sets in very early, and permanently. As does the Drama Queen methodology.
I have been stuck on a transatlantic flight with a colicky infant in the seat behind me
How about a boorish 18 year old loudly repeating over and over (for hours) that Virgin "like, totally SUCKS" for not making her text messaging work while somewhere over the middle of the Atlantic, and throwing a food tray into the aisle when asked if she was done with her meal? I've been stuck with her, too.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
I saw the lead author, George Donahue, give a lecture (Air Transportation: A Tale of Prisoners, Sheep and Autocrats) on his research last year. He's a very engaging speaker; I hope he's an equally good writer.
The Center for Air Transportation Research, of which Donahue is the director, has a long list of free, online publications here on topics related to this book.
If any operating employee works more than 12 hours after resting 8 hours, he is outlaw, and will actually end up in jail.
That law was brought about almost a century ago given the high number of accidents that happenned because train crews lacked some sleep.
Or maybe it's because 40 years ago, we weren't being treated like rats in a cage. Course you could be telling the truth. In which case, it's worth noting that the cultured, polite people of that time raised the colicky man-children of today.
chug it like a polaroid picture!! :)
This nation is the poorer for going through the PATCO incident. As an exercise for those anti-union folk, explain why you use force, intimidation, and legal deception towards a non-union workplace.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Of course flying was neater, cleaner, and more pleasant back when only the rich and big business travelers flew. It was essentially a luxury experience back then. Pam Am's Clipper line of flying boats had cuisine and accommodations as luxurious as any you'd find on a big cruise ship. They could afford to with what people were paying. In today's dollars, a Pan Am ticket from San Francisco to Hawaii via Clipper cost the equivalent of $10,000 dollars.
If anyone could suddenly afford to join your local country club, I promise you it'd get louder, busier, and more crowded too.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Can flight be made totally safe? No. Machines have a statistical probability of failure, and that will never be zero. In the case of an aircraft, you have a very complex machine, where each part and the various assemblies of parts right up to the complete system each has a probability of failure. You can make a computer program bug-free long before you can make an aircraft fault-free, because computers are not subject to mechanical issues. The logic of a given statement will always produce the same result for the same input, no matter how many times it is run. (The output may be different - a malloc may discover that memory is exhausted - but the logic, the mathematical postcondition, is fixed and immutable.) Even if you spent an infinite amount of money, and took an infinite amount of care, the risks involved in anything physical is going to be non-zero.
Therefore, we can subtract this non-zero value from our totals. The totals become "smaller" only if you think in absurd absolute terms. If you look at how many orders of magnitude above the theoretical minimum you are, you are no longer talking in billionths, but in terms of hundreds, thousands or even millions, depending on the complexity of the aircraft and on pure maths modelling of complexity. Notice not only the change in the number of zeros, but where the decimal point is.
17 per billion flights is a tiny difference in failures. 53% greater risk is a hell of a lot bigger. But if we subtract a baseline value, that percentage goes UP, not down.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
HELL YEAH!
And its not just us, I'm looking at you the UK, France, Germany and Japan.
I remember a time when I would act up as a child and all my father had to do was look at me. He wasn't denying my individuality but subtly letting me know that I should stop or he was going to beat my ass when we got home. He never actually beat my ass. He never had to because he would sit me down and talk/explain to me how a civilized person was supposed to act in society.
There's no point in getting irritated with a gate worker at the airport. They have no control over the damn plane. This is a great example of how the ENTIRE world has adopted a "ME ME ME ME" mentality.
Also, I have a cutout of The Duke in True Grit standing in my office. Goddamn he was a bad ass.
Is it a question of teh actor perspective rather than the structural perspective? Of course, one needs to weigh in both perspectives appropriately and in context.
it's worth noting that the cultured, polite people of that time raised the colicky man-children of today
No, they just won WWII, and swore that their own children would have better, easier lives. They didn't anticipate the impact of the Nanny State mentality started by FDR, and gave their kids the benefit of the doubt when it came to forming their own solid world view. Turns out it really helps to have a clear picture of it when you're a little kid, rather than re-discovering it when you're 40.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
What if every airline executive were forced to fly one round trip per week on his own airline as a tourist-class passenger? With checked luggage! Better still, force them to connect through Atlanta, Chicago, NYC, or Philadelphia. Maybe then they would begin to understand how awful the service they provide really is.
I fly about 1 round-trip (4 "legs") per month. In the past few years, I've seen more cancelled than on-time flights, and more ticket passengers left at the gate than empty seats on the planes. No "lost" bags, but many that were delayed for several days. And the airlines are not the only culprits. There is nothing quite as enjoyable as standing in customs and immigration lines for hours, then being told by TSA that they can't accept your bag for re-check because it is now only 58 minutes before the scheduled connection.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Flight: from New York, NY (LGA-LaGuardia) to Chicago, IL (ORD-O'Hare)
Depart: Thu 26-Jun-08 at 6:00 AM
Arrive: Thu 26-Jun-08 at 7:19 AM
Depart: New York (LGA), 26-Jun-08 at 6:00 AM Terminal: CENTRAL TERMINAL
Arrive: Chicago (ORD), 26-Jun-08 at 7:19 AM Terminal: 1
Flight: United 667
Aircraft: Airbus A319
Meal Service: n/a
Duration: 2hr 19mn
Distance: 725 mi (1,167 km)
So while 3 hours is a stretch, its ballpark. Ish.
Where I live, in the first three years after the Amtrak was installed, it was never on time.
Not.
Even.
Once.
There was a newspaper article about it, in fact.
Why are bus and train routes on time more often than planes?
Why are so many flights cancelled?
- Much higher safety and maintenance standards (remember you're dealing with highly pressurized tubes that hurtle through the sky 30,000 feet above the earth's surface at 450 miles per hour)- Much more reliant on weather (storms, snow, winds, visibility)
- Delays caused by even just varation in good weather (a strong headwind versus a strong tailwind for a long haul flight will vary the flight time by something like an hour).
- A very limited number of airport runways requires intense scheduling. Air Traffic Controllers are amongst the most hellishly stressful jobs in the world.
Combine poor weather with the need to meet stringent aircraft safety checks, along with scheduling thousands of planes per day to either depart, land or simply just taxi across just 2-4 runways WITHOUT causing collisions.
Delays and cancellations are inevitable, and once there is just a few simple delays it causes an entire chain reaction that not only affects the current airport but also all the connecting destination airports of the delayed airport.
is the Trailways or Greyhound bus of today.
The reason you don't see celebrities and wealthy people even in first class anymore is that it's worth the price of either renting or buying a private jet to avoid the TSA bullshit.
The difference between being wealthy and super-wealthy is that the super-wealthy owns their own private jets, the wealthy rent or borrow from their richer friends.
Once the wealthy stopped flying commercial, the airlines were free to treat passenger like cattle because they didn't have to worry about annoying people in a position to make life truly miserable for them.
Tech Public Policy stuff
The country's bureaucracy, debt, currency, laws, and infrastructure needs to be wiped clean and built from scratch with modern technology. Who's with me?
And this revenue source is? . . .
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
You want to know what the real problem is? Scheduling 300 flights an hour into an airport that can handle 250 flights per hour. Amazing that that causes delays. Even more amazing that it causes delays when the weather craps up, and reduces that airport to half it's capacity as everyone's shooting ILS's to minimums...
I flew a four day trip in and out of IAD last week. Out of sixteen legs total, we had TWO that left on time. I'd say maybe 4 more were due to weather. The rest? "Uh, sorry your plane's late due to traffic". or "Cleared for the push, head to the rwy30 block to wait for your wheels up time due to flow into EWR"
It's ridiculous. But it's not the ATC guys' fault. Not even their union. It's the morons running the airlines.
Viva la Coast Starlate, one of the most delayed trains in the United States. If it's ever on time be very, very afraid, the apocalypse can't be far behind.
Maybe this is just the reviewer, but there appear to be two gaping flaws in this analysis: scapegoating and lack of comprehension of political context. Air travel is not just a source of vacation jokes, but a critical element of getting business done. Technology development is particularly dependent on air travel for education, meeting, and conventions.
The review states:
... the tragedy is that Washington lacks anyone with the pragmatism, willpower and audacity to stand up to the unions ...
Reagan not only stood up to the unions, but played hardball with them. By ignoring the issues they raised and deliberately dispersing them Reagan personally created much of this tragedy. The only way to address these issues is to be genuinely interested, be sensitive to problems both airline employees and travellers have, listen to what people have to say, look at the facts, and then work with everyone over as long a period as necessary to make things right. Having the audacity to stand up to the unions is now well demonstrated to be a methodology for making things worse, not for helping solve any problems.
Then it is stated that
Chapter 7 lists a number of practical ways in which the air traffic control system can be modernized. Some of the suggestions would require significant financial outlays; others simply require all of the parties involved to play nicely together.
Even if the current system is expanded or partially rebuilt that will mean a significant cost, but all of this taken together strongly suggests that the entire marketplace and the technologies that support it are in need of reengineering. This absolutely requires both significant financial outlays and all parties playing nicely together. The primary cause of the problems highlighted in the review is that the parties involved are playing aggressive hardball, so that is essentially the core issue. Once people start working together, then the hard work that needs to be done can begin. As long as everyone involved continues to be mired in this impractical and childish business of having the audacity to stand up to one another no progress will be made.
Southwest makes lots of money and has the best paid pilots. There are solid reasons for this, most importantly that they provide direct flights instead of using a hub and spoke system. The hub and spoke systems that most of the industry has used in the past and continues to use now has been proven to be fundamentally inefficient.
Hoo boy is this ever right. Amtrak from Greenville to Philadelphia last year -- departed three hours late, arrived seven hours late.
Really, though, the empoyees don't care because it happens every day and they can't do anything about it.
I was on holiday in Thailand last week and had the misfortune to be on the bus with some spoilt American brats in their early 20s. We were going to a national park and everyone had to pay the entrance fee. The American brats had mostly managed to buy themselves fake student cards from Bangkok and were pretending to be students to get a 50% discount except one who had forgotten hers and was shouting and yelling at the bus conductor that he was being unfair and he couldn't treat her like this and when he took no notice she went into an enormous sulk hitting her seat and slamming the bus door. It was quite disgusting behaviour.
But it still means that those people resulted in this mess. I don't make this particular point to continue the pointless generation conflict thing that's been going around, but to point out the hard truth about nostalgia. If yesterday was so wonderful, then how did we come to today? My take is that simply politeness has been weeded out both by the pressures of modern urban society (less time and more interactions with people) and by the inclusion of a number of cultures that have different standards for politeness. The result has been that's it's much harder to be polite in modern society and your politeness is much less likely to be reciprocated.
When did I say that? Oh - that's right, I didn't...
First off, there is a big difference rude behaviour and assault, and I think that different situations call for different responses. Even in the latter case, one can intervene without opening up a can of whoop-ass on the offending person. Like I said before, all it takes is for the adults to behave like adults.
I find your ideas intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Apart from your ranting, I fail to see any evidence that people who freak out in public are not held accountable for their actions. To the contrary, it seems that the authorities tend to taser first (and often) and ask questions later.
So yes. If you act like a grumpy old curmudgeon, you should expect to be treated like one.
Remind me again when I said that?
I do believe that there is a general problem with a lack of common courtesy today. I don't know why but anti-social and rude behaviour is far more common in the US than in Canada and Europe, although the UK seems to be catching up to the Americans...
And some people think that irony is dead!
I am going to go out on a limb here, and guess that you do not have any children of your own...
Again, kids are going to act their age whether the adults like it or not. That's what they do, and that's their job. At those times, adults need to act their age and behave in a mature and responsible way. Unfortunately, parents are people too and they also get tired and have bad days.
So, when I observe some kids and/or parents having a bad day, I don't take it personally, even if it is disruptive. Instead, I try to find some empathy for both, since I have been on both sides of that situation before. Far better to take that approach, instead of judging them all for their perceived shortcomings.
So, the child is acting the way children tend to do. I wonder if you were any different at that age?
Newsflash: parents sometimes give in. Film at 11!
Even though that occasionally happens,
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
Imagine telling your customer he can have it in a month for $800 ($400/h x 2h), or in two days for $7900 ($400/h x 16h + $1000 return airfare + $500 accommodation and meals).
Dude, the government spends a hell of a lot more subsidizing highways, car company pensions, bailouts like the Chrysler one, and other forms of "welfare" on cars in a week than goes to rail in a year. And given that those Amtrak subsidies are, in effect, also how the government routes many millions of dollars to Union Pacific and friends for use of rights of way that the government subsidized the creation of in the first place, whose pockets that money ends up in are not the ones you seem to think.
Those of us who live in the fact-based consensus try to keep these things in mind. Try it some time; it might clear your perspectives a bit.
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
Which just doesn't make sense.
Henry Ford switched his workers to a 40 hour work week: not because the union demanded it, but because that's what he found to be optimal when he studied his workers' productivity. At 80 hours per week, overall productivity was less than when the workers worked 60 hours per week. Time was lost fixing the mistakes made due to worker fatigue. At 60 hours per week, productivity was no better than at 40 hours per week.
Henry Ford was studying assembly-line production, i.e. workers who were concentrating on relatively simple but repetitive tasks. What is the optimal time to spend per day when the activity involves creativity and complex organization, such as programming or trouble-shooting? From postings here and elsewhere, and from my own personal experience, I would guess no more than about five hours per day.
Wow. Look at THAT. Cool, huh?
Ah yes, the "good old days" argument. That always comes up, doesn't it. Well, to quote part of a Billy Joel song, "The good old days weren't always good". Just because YOU think things were, generally speaking, "better" "back in the day", that doesn't mean that everyone feels the way you do. Personally, I think things are alot better now as a whole.
I disagree with you assertions about a "coddling culture". We've just got way more, self-interested, arrogant assholes running around than we used to. (Think liberals with their "No Smoking" laws and Conservatives with their Christian, "Family Values" bullshit.)
Now that I think about it, we DO coddle a bit to much, but it's because we're all too busy coddling ourselves (I DESERVE to have what I want because I'm more important than everyone else!) to look at the big picture. Good call.
P.S. - John Wayne was a bigot. "We can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership to irresponsible people."
kind of ironic since john wayne airport (santa ana, ca) is really small, really busy, really long security lines.
and the tsa people there love it though, especially the ones with the foot fetishes, they can make the shoeless girls stand in line longer.
"Forget the engineers." -Carly Fiorina, briber of MIT Technology Review.