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Landing early... (Score:2)
These days, I think the airlines hedge their bets way too much. I have had short haul flights arrive 15 minutes early. How can that be?
Re:Landing early... (Score:4, Insightful)
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My last flight was a short haul, from Chicago O'Hare to St Louis Lambert Field. Still, the ground traffic was fine in Chicago (leaving early enough to beat rush hour, and only having mild traffic jams on the way back) And the ground traffic in St Louis, well, I didn't really care, since my job was for design for construction of airline facilities remodelling at the airport itself. I didn't have to travel
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By "ground traffic" he's talking about airplane ground traffic... you know, access to the runways and the pathways between the runways and the gates and such.
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These days, I think the airlines hedge their bets way too much. I have had short haul flights arrive 15 minutes early. How can that be?
Airlines love metrics that say, "we're early or on time 98% of the time" so they sometimes low ball their time estimates.
Also airlines take into account expected weather conditions. So if you fly on a day that has historically had bad weather, they will add extra time on for that.
Also they plan for the longest flight you could have, so if you hit a tail wind for most of your flight, you will have a shorter flight. I've had plenty of flights like this, I've also had a few where we were flying into a he
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Military flights (Score:5, Interesting)
Show up at the PAX terminal a few hours before the flight, usually leave on time or a little early, the only security check is a reminder that your weapons can't be loaded (depending on the flight operator). Of course the convienence is offset by your choices of destinations... but Afghanistan sure is lovely this time of year!
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My first flight into KAF was like the dropship ride in Aliens. Red lights, combat entry, and fully kitted up.
No E-Ticket required!
DG
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Will PAX actually take you into Afghanistan? When I wen to Iraq we flew PAX to a nice safe airport in Kuwait, and the Air Force flew us into country. Complete with hot zone landing procedures that were really the most fun I had the whole trip.
Can't remember (Score:2)
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My last flight is such a distant memory, I can't remember the details.
I can't foresee flying in the future, unless I decide to leave the continent for vacation. And even then, I might decide to go by ship, just for the experience.
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*Cue George Carlin: "Fuck you, you get on the plane I'm getting in the plane - there seems to be less wind in here!".
We don't fly (Score:5, Interesting)
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If you need a place to stay in the fall, Harrisburg PA is not bad as an intermediate between those places, and -- depending on the dates! -- I might be able to offer you a nice bed, home-cooked dinner, etc. there.
timothy
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Well from what I see on your website you probably traveled to many parts of the world already, You are retired now so good choice to rediscover what you have been missing on your own backyard a.k.a. the good ol' USA and spending money into the local economy, instead of like some other people who fly around and buying luxury foreign goods.
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driving from our home base in Oklahoma to Baltimore, San Fransisco, Texas, Iowa, and are planning a trip to DC and NYC in the fall.
So not only are you restricting yourself to the same continent, but you don't even go to Canada or Mexico? How dull!
I like to visit the US, but at least it's foreign and exotic to me. All those bizarre foods! Are "corn dogs" really something you eat, or was my leg being pulled?
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Yes, they're real. Corn dogs are common carnival food. I'm not a fan of cornbread myself, but other people do like them.
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"low brow" american food as well as hot dog and hamburgers.
I wouldn't lump burgers in with the corn and hot dogs. Home-made hamburgers can be pretty epic, especially if you're willing to be creative. The ability to mix things like spices, fruits and veggies in with the meat gives you the ability to have the flavor right through the meat, which can be incredibly difficult with things like ribs or roasts.
I would also suggest that being in the midwest (at least where I live) can be a bonus - you get flavors from everywhere. Our provincial government has been super ag
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Take it easy, I thought I was plainly teasing. We had lots of good food in the US. Too much actually - the serving sizes are incredible.
And the diversity certainly helps when it comes to eating. OTOH, the dominance of franchise chains works against that.
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One nice thing bout living here is...I rarely even SEE chain restaurants in the city proper. Mostly local owned places, and most people think, why go to a chain when all the best food is locals places?
I've been here so long that to see how so much of the rest of the country lives, shocks me.
Last time I went through Houston, I was amazed to see wave after wave of strip malls...each with the
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Yep...I was on one episode of this show when he was doing NOLA. Funny...I've had friends across the US calling me up saying they saw me on TV.
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Since my wife and I retired we don't fly. I don't like taking off my shoes.
Try flying outside the US. That problem does not exist. I've flown though airports with roving guards brandishing assault rifles or SMG's, the immi and customs people gave me no trouble. The only place where I've ever had to take off my shoes is in the Philippines and they seem to do it just because they've been told to.
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For some reason the last time I flew from London to Tokyo I didn't have to take my shoes off. I don't know if they have simply abandoned it or if they only do it when flights to certain destinations are boarding. They never both with customs when the flight is from Japan at any rate, which is odd because you can buy various weapons in Japan that are not legal in the UK, but I'm not complaining.
They only started checking shoes after they realised that their metal detectors can't see things 2cm off the ground
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They only started checking shoes after they realised that their metal detectors can't see things 2cm off the ground, i.e. hidden in the soles of shoes.
The obvious solution to that would be to extend the detector below shoe level, e.g. by putting a platform in the detector for the scannee to stand on. Would be much faster and less personnel-intensive (cheaper) than a shoes-off inspection.
But I thought the shoe business was due to a shoe bomb; not necessarily something that can be detected by a metal detector.
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You seem to have an engineer's approach to the issue. However this is security theater, and good engineering does not often make for good theatrics.
Ten Years Ago (Score:2)
I think the last time I flew was ~10 years ago. I picked "I don't fly" because from what I understand, air travel doesn't resemble my experience anymore.
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For all the bitching people do it really hasn't changed all that much. You take your shoes off now, the detectors are a bit more sensitive to metal, and at some airports you might have the body scanner which takes like 5 secs but I guess there might be some guy somewhere in a room that can see the general outline of your twig and berries. Honestly not sure how anyone got through high school PE or used a gym if they're that freaked out about it but I guess that would also explain our obesity epidemic. Eve
private pilot (Score:4, Interesting)
My last flight took off when I pulled back on the stick (which was a good hour later than I'd originally intended, but it's different when it's your own fault), and landed early due to a tailwind. If I weren't able to fly myself, I'd do a LOT more driving - I don't think I could stand all the security BS anymore - although the average coach seat is probably roomier than my little plane.
Re:private pilot (Score:5, Funny)
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I think TSA staff see "randomly selecting" hot men/women for the Full Nude Scanners as a perk of the job, with bonus points if they can find a reason to check their packages.
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As someone with almost $200,000 in student loan debt, thus no funds for the lessons, one word:
Jealous.
mainly depend on the type of flight (Score:2)
I frequently (2 or 3 times a year) from the US to Europe. I found few problems with domestic flights (US->US or Europe->Europe) but a lot of problem in transatlantic flights. My "last flight" happened to be on time.
I usually suffer significant delay (more than a couple hours) on the way or on the way back.
Something more complicated... (Score:2)
...8 hours late and at the wrong airport (La Guardia instead of Newark).
My last airplane flight... (Score:2)
Complicated (Score:4, Interesting)
My last airplane flight left on time, and although it did land on time, I wasn't with it when it landed. While skydiving that day, I took three other similar flights.
Just like flying coach, you get packed like sardines and remain really uncomfortable for the duration of the flight...however, you get to bail out!
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Cliche, perhaps, but I still don't get why someone voluntarily jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Well, other than D. B. Cooper.
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Cliche, perhaps, but I still don't get why someone voluntarily jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Well, other than D. B. Cooper.
It's safer than most people think and a lot of fun. The other reply you got about any old idiot being able to fall out of a plane isn't really that far off. There are people with tremendous skill to be sure, who worked hard to get there, but I myself only have 34 jumps and am not particularly athletic. To do the basic flying I do doesn't take much.
Most skydiving deaths happen to really experienced people with thousands of jumps. They're flying high performance canopies, swooping to land, and doing other
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Cliche reply: As soon as they make a "Perfectly good airplane" I will stop jumping out of them.
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Southwest, nonstop BWI to AUS: excellent (Score:2)
In both directions, Southwest really was quite nice.. I even got the refundable extra seat (for wideasses) and got both of them refunded, which was cool..
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In both directions, Southwest really was quite nice..
How can southwest be in two directions? Were you flying in the Bermuda Triangle?
December snow storms in NE USA (Score:2, Interesting)
Last time I flew was a trip from New York to a Cuba last December. The trip back was easy, but getting there was a nightmare.
I'm not a US citizen, so the travel ban doesn't apply to me, but to avoid any pain-in-the-ass or problems with my US visa, decided to be a bit discreet about the trip. The travel plan was JFK -> Port-au-Prince -> Santiago de Cuba.
The flight from JFK was the morning of Dec 26. A huge storm was coming in the evening, but I should have been able to get out okay. Unfortunately, th
Landed before I took off. (Score:2)
Flagstaff to Las Vegas. 42 minute flight, gained an hour switching time zones. So I landed 18 minutes before I took off. Great way to keep hitting Happy Hour.
Perfectly on time. (Score:2)
Something Else (Score:2)
Flying from JST to IAD last March. Rain stopped just as we left the house. Got through security as the plane came in from AOO. The ground crew person asked if we could hurry up and board as the fog was rolling in. The captain started the right engine and the fog kept getting thicker. He started to fire up the left engine as I watched the radar and other stuff on the tarmac disappear in a gray soup. A few seconds later the engines were shut down and we disembarked. The captain said we'd wait for a few minute
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(and I got bulkhead isle seats for no extra charge, since that's all that was available on my connection to DIA).
You know, other airlines don't charge extra for bulkhead, isle, or exit row seats. I work for Delta, and I get asked if there's a charge for these seats all the time.
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and I got bulkhead isle seats for no extra charge, since that's all that was available on my connection to DIA).
I work for Delta, and I get asked all the time if we charge extra for isle, bulkhead, or exit row seats. I'm surprised that some airlines actually do charge people extra for these seats. I know we certainly don't.
Usually on time (Score:2)
I travel quite a bit (for work, mostly, though I am a dual US-Australian citizen so do travel between the two countries as well for non-work purposes a couple of times a year). My observations are:
- Most flights generally run on time. Particularly international ones, as I have the feeling that, since they run less often and the consequences for people missing connections on those is greater, airlines try to prioritise them (gate slots etc.) when things are tight. But as a proportion of total flights, those
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- It takes at least 3x longer to check in and pass security at a major US airport than at a major airport in Australia or Asia (dunno about Europe - haven't been there since pre-9/11). Australia doesn't have the liquids restrictions, it doesn't ask you to take your shoes off, and it doesn't do the patdowns/nudie scans. That makes travelling within (or from) Australia MUCH less stressful than within the US, and also a lot quicker.
s/Australia or Asia/Europe, Australia, or Asia/
I can't recall when it's taken me longer than 5-10 minutes to get through the security checkpoint at any European airport.
The only place that comes close to Unistat's level of security theatre hassle is China (Beijing in particular), and it's still not nearly as bad.
- [This one has nothing to do with arriving on time]: Australia and the US both suck when it comes to free WiFi in airports. Some airports have it but it's by no means ubiquitous. In particular I single out SYD, ORD, and LAX, which I pass through more than any other three airports, as having no free WiFi. In Asia OTOH they ALL have it.
Hm, I got free WiFi at Kingsford-Smith (Sydney) last time I was there (December). Also had it at the little regional airport in Coffs Harbour.
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Hmm interesting. I can't recall ever seeing free WiFi at SYD (though there are a few free wired kiosks around to use). It might depend on which terminal you're in. Or perhaps it was free WiFi offered by a particular business (e.g. cafe?) inside the airport rather than an airport-wide thing.
Or perhaps there actually is free WiFi now and I just haven't noticed because I stopped checking years ago ;)
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Last couple of flights I've done have been okay, San Francisco to Minneapolis, and then Kansas City to Grand Rapids.
Had a little snag on the Grand Rapids flight though. I had to explain what my e-cigarette was, and how it worked. Other than that, smooth sailing.
I still hate flying though, but more for the experience of being in the airport than anything else.
I've always hated the intense sensory experiences that airports create. It's like a wall of noise, you can talk all you like, but it just gets absorbed
Have not found there is always free WiFi in Aisa (Score:2)
Australia and the US both suck when it comes to free WiFi in airports. Some airports have it but it's by no means ubiquitous.
In the Beijing airport, yes the WiFi is free.
However I found it was hardly usable anywhere, most "free" WiFi in fact I find is worth exactly what you pay for, and usually laden with ids and/or framed content.
Also in Beijing you have to register your passport to get an access code (they have kiosks around the airport for this). That almost certainly means they know EXACTLY where all o
my last flight never started (Score:2)
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On time, normally (Score:2)
Got caught once flying out of Melbourne. We get a couple of fogged in days per year and when that happens the airport has to shut down. For years it hasn't been worth upgrading instrumentation to get around this. But recently Melbourne airport bought a brand new ILS which got demolished by a low flying Emirates departure which had entered the wrong payload mass (10^5 kilos too low).
Then a couple of years ago I got stuck in Incheon during the northern winter. It took three hours to deice and get the plane of
Far more complicated (Score:2)
Left on time, arrived on time. As usual. (Score:2)
Yesterday I met with my instructor, we hopped in the plane and off we went to do some moderately crazy shit (slow flight, steep turns) out over the local practice area. We didn't have a high enough ceiling to do the really crazy shit (spiral dives, spins). My turns were tight enough that we hit our own wake turbulence. Cool!
When we were done he told me to take us home via a particular landmark. I flew there, called for clearance, flew the approach, landed. Great fun.
...laura
i'm on the terrorist watchlist (Score:4, Funny)
you insensitive clod!
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Left on time, landed at another airport (late) (Score:2)
I'm used to flying into SFO (san fran international). There is nearly never a reason to not land, there.
Now I live in San Luis Obispo, and there is only ILM in one direction on one strip, and the wind was blowing the wrong direction. So we were diverted down to Santa Barbara and had to take a bus up to SLO (about 2 hours, after they found a bus that would go at nearly midnight on a Sunday).
usairsucks.org (Score:2)
Check out what US Airways did to me a couple summers ago:
http://usairsucks.org/ [usairsucks.org]
Worst airline ever. I will never fly them again. Their token vouchers expired unused as well.
Another market research poll (Score:2)
SSIA
Left Late, Landed Late (Score:2)
I was flying back from Richmond, VA to my hometown in Illinois. The plane left late, and arrived late enough at O'Hare that I missed my flight back home. So the best the airline company could do for me was to send me to a different airport in Illinois about an hour from where I lived so I had to call someone to drive out there and pick me up. It kind of sucked.
Fortunately, there weren't any problems on getting to Richmond.
My last flight (Score:2)
I flew with KLM last time to Holland. The plane had propellers, and I thought this was a modern airline!
On the way back I smelt something burning. I turned to my colleague and said "Can you smell that?", and before he could answer the lady in front of me turned around with a look of horror on her face.
"I thought it was me!", she said, not meaning the smell was from her…
My colleague said he coul
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Everything's amazing and nobody's happy. (Score:2)
Complicated (Score:2)
Soemthing more complicated for me was a competition glider flight of 306KM @ 126kmh. Would have liked to arrive earlier but definately left on time!
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Yawn, Poor old APL still trying. Ah well, Its easy enough to filter all AC posts. Bye bye asshole.
Complicated... (Score:2)
Something more complicated (Score:2)
I had to vote "something more complicated", but I should have known better than to fly Oceanic Airlines [wikipedia.org]. Their safety record is horrible.
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I like Amtrak, but the time it takes to get anywhere is pretty ridiculous. I traveled half way across the country, and somewhere just outside of Havre, Montana, one of the valves for the breaks froze open. Apparently it hadn't been properly winterized. We were only running 8 hours behind at that point.
It was a much less aggravating trip even with the near extra day that we ended up taking to make our destination. Certainly a lot less so than having to be groped by a perv before being crammed into a tiny sea
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That's what put me off Amtrak. Thought of taking it from CA to TX. Could be faster than driving because the train can move all 24 hours of the day while I have to stop and sleep some time. (No, I'm not crazy enough to pull an all-nighter for a road trip.) Whether it actually is faster than driving I don't know. I thought I could handle a 2 hour delay, but when I heard it could be a 22 hour delay, that was too much. It's not cheap either.
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Yeah, but when your less than a day train trip gets a 10 hour delay, with repeated stops in the middle of nowhere because you're off the schedule and CSX gets priority, it then becomes a whole day nightmare. That's when I finally drew the line, and I haven't been on another Amtrak train since.
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I love the comfort of Japanese Shinkansen (bullet trains). Large seats, plenty of leg-room, in-seat power, much quieter than an aircraft... I have not tried the latest generation but when taking the Sky Liner from Narita into Tokyo I discovered that the toilets were huge. You could easily get a couple of wheelchairs in there. Japanese toilets tend to be barely large enough to open the door.
I wish we had trains like that in the UK but even the new high speed line doesn't get anywhere near those speeds. My fr
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Yes, that King George certainly has it in for zealous libertarians!
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Do you get wifi on Amrtak trains?
Many European international trains have (sometimes even for free) wifi, and 1st class comes with a meal and drinks.
Food and drinks are nice, but the wifi is really important because you can suddenly work properly, which means you're not wasting any time while moving.
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Re:Flew this morning, all on time (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, you english are silly when it comes to snowfall. I heard this guy J. Clarkson recently had a good idea about improving that, though.
I'm sure he had an idea at least.
The thing about snow in England is that no one is prepared for it for some reason. Someone made this website to remind people to buy a shovel in the summer instead of just when it snows and they're all sold out: http://buyafuckingshovel.com/ [buyafuckingshovel.com]
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heh - happens in Minnesota and Wisconsin and parts of central Canada (some places I've lived) too - after that first snowfall you can't find a shovel for two weeks. In the previous few years I've noticed the big stores stockpile last year's model in the warehouse just so they're the only ones not completely out. It's a lot like when straight line winds/a minor (EF0) tornado tore through my neighborhood - we had no power for over a week and I had to get a generator 300 miles away (they were sold out within h
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*shrugs* if you're in an area that's prone to power failures or snow/storms, it's your own damned fault if you're unprepared when it happens. I live just outside Ottawa, in a home that backs on to a major wetland that also serves as a flood plain. We have had a total of one power failure in the last year, but keep a 7.5KW genny ready to go (and a 3.5KW genny as backup in the garage) for the rare occasion when it does happen, as well as a spare sump pump to keep the basement dry. It's just insurance. The one
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The Top Gear snow plough made from a converted Combine Harvester did seem to work quite well for something they hacked together. Obviously massive pinch of salt needed because it's TV but worth looking into.
A shovel isn't much use in the snow. You can clear a path to your car but the roads are still covered in compressed snow and ice. With all the cuts I doubt any council is going to invest in more snow clearing or gritting equipment so we are basically resigning ourselves to losing a few days a year to the
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The Top Gear snow plough made from a converted Combine Harvester did seem to work quite well for something they hacked together. Obviously massive pinch of salt needed because it's TV but worth looking into.
It seems like the kind of thing that would work well in some situations, but not great in others (small roads for exmaple). I think the flamethrower at the back would probabaly not be involved (am i thinking of the same episode?). Hopefully they will think about looking into it in the future.
A shovel isn't much use in the snow. You can clear a path to your car but the roads are still covered in compressed snow and ice. With all the cuts I doubt any council is going to invest in more snow clearing or gritting equipment so we are basically resigning ourselves to losing a few days a year to the weather.
The idea I remember someone talking about was that if everyone had a shovel, when they clear the path outside their house, they also clear the bit of the road infront of their house. Then if everyone does this, the road
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At least, that's what you hope.
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...and a "GREAT" landing is one after which you can use the airplane again.
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"Any landing you can walk away from is a good one." - flight sim pilot.
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Is there some reason you never mentioned what city PHL is in, despite it (arguably) being the one that is least likely to be familiar to others? I mean Philadelphia was my guess, but you never know :)
Now, I've done a bit more flying than you, but your numbers are not that bad (other than the PHL issues). For example, my longest journey time (one-way) is 40 hours or a little more. Of course, this was on a series of trips I did that are a bit more than flying from North America to Europe. I did four separate
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I've had bad experience on most airlines at some point. It isn't practical to avoid them permanently for a single bad experience.
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Really? Seriously? You needed a that's what she said joke for that?
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You say that like it's a bad thing. I much prefer to land at Midway than O'hare, or Burbank than LAX, at the smaller airports I can be in my car and on my way before I can even leave the terminal at the behemoth's. NYC is a tossup because they all suck.