Welcome to Sad Salvation. Day by day by day by day ... this is my attempt to make sense of the world.

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Saturday, March 24, 2007

Not always a good idea

I know that an airline customer's bill of rights seems like a good thing,problems with but there are often problems with laws like this. After a winter of at least three major blizzards that stranded customers on the tarmac and at airports, there has been a lot of talk about new laws to protect airline customers.

Before a law like this is passed the impact has to be studied. Lawmakers need to make a good faith effort to predict how a law like this will make the market react. Will airlines offer fewer flights? Will the airlines charge more money during the winter to make up for bad weather? Will airlines cancel flights at the threat of bad weather leaving more customers stranded? Any of these things might be worse than the current situation.

There are things that can be done to fix the situation. Right now at most airports, airlines can post any departure time they like. It is not connected to the capacity of the airport. Every flight for ever airline could have 9 AM as a departure time even if only 10% of those flights could take off between 9 AM and 9:10 AM. A better scheduling system between the airports and airlines might help some of these problems.

I prefer airlines come up with their own customer Bill of Rights like Jet Blue. This way the company can make choices that fit there business model. Customers can would be forced to include to look at the company's service, not only price, when making a decision about choosing a flight.

Labels: air travel, airline, airport, Jet Blue, law

- Rich, 12:14 PM |

Tuesday, July 08, 2003

Travel Notes 7/8/03

Covert Trip

I am traveling back to Philadelphia. My goal is to surprise my Mother for her birthday. I talked to her on the phone last Wednesday. She sounded sad that I was not going to be there for her birthday. Everyone else is going to be there, even my brother who lives in Germany. I know that my mom really wanted to see all of her children and grandchildren together.

Now I am going to catch a flight that will arrive in New York at 5:30 in the morning. I will hang with the family for a few days. I will spend all the time with them. I will be back to San Jose before the weekend. Thank goodness for low dollar fares and red-eye flights. I just hope that nothing will screw this up.

Airport

Airport is a very American word. Airport has that ring of a word that was on a list and the marketing department chose the best one. It just seems like the kind of word an American would come up with. It is the kind of word that people in other languages just adopt.

I wonder what other worlds competed with Airport when that world started. It is the same idea as jeans and dungarees. What other terms did people come up with? The British called it an aerodrome until after World War II. I wonder if there is any way to figure this out. I wonder if there are any words better then airport out there.

High Speed

It cost $7 to access the wireless broadband at the Oakland Airport. It is really not worth it. I am only going to be here for the next 45 minutes. It looks like I will have to wait a while before I publish this.

Flight Mix

Wilco - Dash 7
Netural Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Pavement - Hit the Plane Down
Microphone - I'll Be In The Air
Dead Milkmen - Air Crash Museum
R.E.M - You're In The Air
Richard Thompson - Jet Plane In A Rocking Chair
Talvin Singh - Flight IC408
Jets To Brazil - Air Traffic Control
Ben Folds Five - Air
This Flight Tonight - Joni Mitchell
Meryn Cadell - Flight Attendant

Labels: airport, family, mix, music, tag overload, travel, travel notes, vacation

- Rich, 9:46 PM |

Wednesday, June 26, 2002

All of the Airports I have used

SJC - San Jose (21)
PHL - Philadelphia (19)
LAS - Las Vegas (5)
SFO - San Francisco (5)
STL - St. Louis (4)
PDX - Portland (4)
ORD Chicago-O'hare (4)
SAN - San Diego (4)
ABQ - Albuquerque (4)
PHX - Phoenix (3)
ATL - Atlanta (2)
SEA - Seattle(2)
BUR - Burbank (2)
OAK - Oakland (2)
IND - Indianapolis (2)
MSP - Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (1)
DAY - Datyon (1)
PIT - Pittsburgh (1)
TUS - Tucson (1)
CVG - Cincinnati (1)
DEN - Denver (1)
SLC - Salt Lake City (1)
LAX - Los Angeles(1)
IAH - Houston (1)

Labels: airport, Astro City, list, tag overload, travel, travel notes

- Rich, 11:17 PM |

Friday, December 28, 2001

San Jose is....

Today Armando described San Jose as being just like an airport terminal. He said that San Jose is not comfortable or inviting. It is the kind of place that people just walk through. I think this is very insightful.

Labels: airport, Armando, metaphor, San Jose

- Rich, 2:31 PM |

Friday, December 21, 2001

My Father and Santa Claus

In the airport yesterday I was sitting near a family with two small children. One child was young enough to still believe in Santa Claus. The other must have been told there is no Santa. They younger of the two kinds was worried that Santa was not going to be able to find them this year since they were not going to be at home. The older son was about to speak up when his mother gave him that, "if you say something to spoil your brother's Christmas, I will think up something really bad to do to you" look. The mother assured her younger son that Santa has been doing this for a long time and he would be able to find them.

When I found out that I might have been lied to about Santa Claus I was a little broken up. I knew it had to be true, but I was still sad. My father took me aside then. I have never thought of my father as a sentimental man. There are a lot of things in this world he has no time for. At that time my father told me something I still think about to this day.

My father told me of course Santa Claus is real. If Santa Claus was not real, why would people break their back working overtime to buy good gifts for their families? If Santa Claus was not real, why would people go buy gifts for kids they do not even know? If Santa Claus was not real, why would so many people give to charity? If Santa Claus was not real, why would people put so much effort into parties for their friends? If Santa Claus was not real, why would people travel all the way a cross the country just to spend a few days with people they love? He told me the Santa Claus is in people's hearts not on the North Pole. I think about this just about every Christmas.

Labels: airport, Christmas, dad, family, Santa Claus, travel

- Rich, 7:34 AM |

Thursday, December 20, 2001

Airports

was in line at the airport when a man about my age who looks Indian was told he was selected for a random bag check. I looked at the guy and I did not believe that it was totally random.

This started me thinking about my own profile. I realized there are things that work for me and against me if you were trying to profile me as a terrorist. Here are the things you would see when you look at me on paper.

Risk Factors

Single Male
Age 24-34
Lives Alone
Traveling Alone

Positive Factors

Purchased Ticket more then 120 days in advance
Purchased with credit card in my name
White

I do not think I would ever be profiled as a terrorist. I think that a lot of people put stock only in that last tidbit. I do not I would think the next terrorist attack will come from people who we do not expect. It is just something to think about.

Labels: air travel, airport, profile, risk, terrorism, travel

- Rich, 10:58 PM |

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