A Real-Time Map of Travelers Suffering From the Thanksgiving Storm

Daniel_Stuckey writes "Travel officials expect about 3 million people to venture by plane to their turkey dinner, and already hundreds of flights have been canceled and thousands delayed—including more than a third of routes at the major airport hub in Dallas, which will have a ripple effect down through the airline system as thwarted passengers try to hop on other flights. This inspired flight-tracking site FlightAware to develop an interactive 'Misery Map' visualizing flight statuses in real-time and the megastorm traversing the country simultaneously. Because who doesn't love a little data viz schadenfreude?"

Comments

TSA Misery Map

[MonkeyDancer]

Missing Option: TSA Misery Map

Re:TSA Misery Map

[Shakrai]

I've flown four times this year, with a fifth flight next week (way above my average to date, was lucky to fly once every five years until now....) and I haven't had any problems with TSA. Part of that is probably the small cities I'm flying out of (*), or maybe they're just polite because I'm usually checking a firearm (**). The millimeter wave scanning machines are pretty neat to see in action, from a techie point of view (not going into the politics of it....), and I laughed my ass off when I discovered they had opened my checked baggage and neatly re-organized it when putting it back together. I don't know who you are anonymous TSA person, but please teach me how to fold shirts like that... ;)

(*) Flying out of small cities like Binghamton or Wilkes Barre is the cat's meow. Show up 10 minutes before boarding starts, walk through security without a line, hop directly on the plane when they start boarding.

(**) Flying with a handgun is even better. You get to sit there while they inspect the checked baggage in front of you, bullshit about firearms with the guy TSA assigns this duty (usually knowledgeable about the subject matter), and know that they aren't going to reopen your luggage again for the duration of this trip.

Re:TSA Misery Map

[CohibaVancouver]

Just look at the globe. That's the TSA Misery Map.

Not at all. If you fly from Vancouver to Toronto, when you go through security no one is going to ask you to 'state your name,' your shoes will stay on your feet and you'll pass through a metal detector, not a nude-o-scope.

It's only America that has consented to the TSA.

Re:TSA Misery Map

[Shakrai]

It needs to be unloaded (duh) and secured in a hard sided opaque case that's kept within your checked baggage. I use the lockbox that I bought for my car, it's just a cheap little metal box that locks, and they've never complained about it. They may also want you to have lockable luggage, it's not required by the regulations, but the one time I flew without a lock they made a small stink about it and "secured" the luggage with cable ties.

Not much to it once you've met the basic requirements. You declare it to to ticket attendant, who has you sign the "unloaded firearms" declaration, which is just a thick piece of cardboard that goes inside the luggage. After this the process seems to vary based on airport, most of the time they'll call a TSA agent over, who manually inspects the luggage in your presence, declares it good, and sends it on its way. I have seen them send it through the machine and call it good, but that's been the exception in my experience, not the rule. My assumption is they do the manual inspection at airports where they lack automated technology good enough to discern the difference between GSR and actual explosives. I think I was in Salt Lake City when they sent it through the machine, and they had a lot of toys there I haven't seen in other airports. They always tell me to listen to the PA system in case they have to call me, presumably to open the lockbox, but I've never had it happen.

Ammunition needs to be carried in something that keeps it covered. They don't specifically state that you're required to use the original packaging, but that's the easiest way. You can allegedly keep loaded magazines, so long as they're in a magazine pouch or something else that covers the feed lips, but I've never tried it. I have a 1911 with single-stack magazines, and they're not that hard to reload when I reach my destination.

Regarding regular inspections, I guess YMMV. I've only had my bag opened once, and it was pretty apparent that they had gone to the trouble to take nearly everything out. Nothing was where I had left it, and they had actually repacked it better than I had originally done. I invested in one of the TSA locks, that they can open with a master key, with the green/red indicator that trips when opened that way, and it's only been tripped that one time.

Re:TSA Misery Map

[CohibaVancouver]

Why do anti-gun people feel the need to ask this question every single time the subject comes up?

Because it's puzzling to us and we continue to seek out someone, anyone, who can explain it to us.

As a Canadian, our country has many, many cultural traits in common with the USA. However, what boggles my mind most about Americans Is the whole âgun thing.â(TM) I just donâ(TM)t get it. I live in Vancouver, I donâ(TM)t own a gun and amongst my wide circle of friends I only know one person who owns a gun (and heâ(TM)s a police officer). Now certainly my friends in rural parts of Canada own long guns for hunting, but thatâ(TM)s different. In Canada to buy a gun you need to be licensed, the same way you do to drive a car or own a dog. To Canadians this seems perfectly reasonable and the fact that many of my American friends go bananas if you even suggest such a thing is a complete and utter head-scratcher to us.

Re:TSA Misery Map

[sl4shd0rk]

TSA Misery Map

Just add the green and red together and multiple by anal probe.

Great idea for a graphic

[GodfatherofSoul]

I love these clever UIs that maximize visual cues. I would like to see a 3rd pie slice separating delays and cancellations, though.

Only idiots even attempt it

[slashmydots]

If you want to get to a place on time at the same time as everyone else, flying will not do it. Either leave before most people do or take other means of transportation. You'd have to be a complete idiot or new to flying to not know that.

Re:Only idiots even attempt it

[MoonFog]

For most people that's not an option though, since they leave as soon as they can after work and for many there are no alternatives to airplanes. Basically, they're idiots for moving so far away from their families they can't get to them in a short drive and idiots for not getting themselves jobs where they have a flexible schedule? Either that or you have an incredible naive way of looking at the world.

Re:Only idiots even attempt it

[mythosaz]

The documentary, Planes Trains and Automobiles has a great deal of information on the subject.

Re:Only idiots even attempt it

[tlhIngan]

If you want to get to a place on time at the same time as everyone else, flying will not do it. Either leave before most people do or take other means of transportation. You'd have to be a complete idiot or new to flying to not know that.

Well, other than the dangers of flying into the storm, flying is a perfectly valid option. Of course, flying commercially will probably lead to pain, but there's nothing wrong with being a pilot and flying your own plane to your destination. (And given there are generally a lot more smaller airports, you may end up at a nice one really close to your intended destination).

Avoids TSA hassles, cattle herding of self-loading cargo, etc.

For most people that's not an option though, since they leave as soon as they can after work and for many there are no alternatives to airplanes. Basically, they're idiots for moving so far away from their families they can't get to them in a short drive and idiots for not getting themselves jobs where they have a flexible schedule? Either that or you have an incredible naive way of looking at the world.

There's several solutions. First of all, instead of trying to make it last minute, plan ahead. It's not like we cannot tell when Thanksgiving will be next year to go and plan some time off.

Heck, enough people do it that the weekend before is actually peak travel season where security and all that can be expected to take hours.

Given the entirety of the US shuts down for thanksgiving, and you can easily detect the slowdown a week before, time off should be fairly easy to obtain. The only reason would be if you're on pager duty or in an occupation where there has to be coverage 24/7.

Re:Only idiots even attempt it

[Anonymous Coward]

Either leave before most people do or take other means of transportation.

Do you see the logical fallacy that I see?

i.e. If everyone's doing it, everyone should just do something else instead.

More seriously though it may just not be an option for many people, excessive travel time by driving, unreliable vehicle, etc.
Many people have trouble affording a plane ticket at all and may not have the job security to ask for additional days off, my Dad is from Pennsylvania (I grew up in Texas), I think he only traveled back once, when his brother died.

Re:Only idiots even attempt it

[wcrowe]

I don't know that I'd go so far as to call them "idiots", however, it surprises me that so many people practically kill themselves to get somewhere hundreds of miles away merely to spend a day with their extended family. In my experience, it's something that is highly overrated, and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. I don't feel the need to go into detail, but it's virtually impossible this year for me to be with family, and I am okay with that. Thanksgiving, like Christmas, has become a holiday filled with obligation and guilt. You MUST be home for Thanksgiving. You MUST buy presents for everyone. It is no wonder that for some, the holidays are nothing more than a time of stress, anger, disappointment and depression.

 

No-holiday culture in US is to blame

[coder111]

Even though time and time again studies show that well rested employees are more productive, people in USA keep working longer hours with fewer holidays. And that is the reason for 80% of those last minute flights.

Why cannot the state mandate that each employee gets X days of holiday per year guaranteed, and is forced to take them? That's how it works in quite a few countries in Europe.

--Coder

3rd link (Vice.com) has NSFW links

[JTsyo]

Careful on what you click on.