I've been flying for 40 years and have been treated both well and poorly by many carriers. As the cost for flying has gone down over time, the largesse associated with correcting problems has gone down as well. It's been quite a while since I was treated to a first class flight in recompense for a cancelation or other problem. In or around 2010, I was stranded for days in Spokane by Southwest reportedly because they had not installed advanced landing equipment on their aircraft before the main runway was shutdown for an extended period of time, and they could not land on an alternate runway in fog without the advanced equipment. Each morning for several mornings our flight out would be canceled because the equipment had not managed to land that morning. We ended up renting a car and driving to Seattle, and flying out from Seattle. Needless to say, I was not happy. However, I still continue to fly Southwest by preference and have saved many thousands of dollars flying with them

(Written on 01/04/2023)(Permalink)

Labor unions can represent a wide variety of classifications of workers. The worker classifications of "blue collar" and "white collar" are just two types of classifications. Government workers can be represented by public labor unions, like the National Treasury Employees Union (which has a substantial membership that might also be classified as "white collar"). Screen writers have the "Writers Guild(s) of America" (East and West) as a labor union. The "Screen Actors Guild" (now merged with the "American Federation of Television and Radio Artists" to form SAG-AFTRA) represents/represented actors.

(Written on 12/19/2022)(Permalink)

Some states have implemented "Real ID" compliant licenses as a non-standard type of license. If the people in that state didn't pay attention to the discussions about Real ID, then they will have just a standard license and that won't work for getting on a plane. For example, Washington (state) has had Real ID compliant licenses for at least four or five years now, but one has to request what Washington calls an "Enhanced Driver's License" and pay extra money to get one. So the state-by-state adoption of Real ID isn't enough to track Real ID license adoption progress for US intra-state flying; the actual citizen renewal of licenses into a Real ID compliant format needs to be tracked. States have dragged their feet and, unfortunately, gotten extension after extension from the federal government. At some point one has to question whether enough adoption will ever have occurred that politicians are willing to accept the political heat will be generated when the rule change requiring

(Written on 12/09/2022)(Permalink)

According to the article that I read, human pilots are inadvertently selecting autopilot instead of auto throttle due to the relative proximity of two switches. This has nothing to do with self-aware planes and everything to do with poor user interface design.

(Written on 12/02/2022)(Permalink)

Fining Frontier is just the tip of the iceberg, or it should be, at least. With few exceptions (maybe Southwest) the US airlines engaged in extreme subterfuge to avoid providing refunds required by law, in many cases getting passengers to accept a vastly inferior compensation in the form of a limited-lifetime travel voucher. I think that some steps have been taken towards making the involuntary refund process more transparent, but ultimately it should be as easy as booking the flight in the first place. If the airline can't provide the carriage for which you paid, then they have to give you your money back. Simple. Straightforward. Any attempts at evasion or lying about the requirements should result in triple damages. Both US Code and the "Contract of Carriage" I received from Delta when I bought a ticket to Hawaii in early 2020 required the airline to refund my money if the flight for which I purchased a ticket was canceled or had a significant alteration in its scheduled departure

(Written on 11/18/2022)(Permalink)

I tend to fly Southwest more than other carriers. SWA policies like 2 checked bags at no extra cost and their incredibly sane boarding process are key factors, along with their highly competitive fares. I have not noticed any more bumptious travelers on Southwest than other airlines. Eliminating expiration dates on flight credits is another great reason to fly Southwest. I'm not an employee or a shill, just a satisfied customer. Fortunately, we can all choose what we like best, and no one has to ride SWA if they feel their seat-mates aren't up to their social calibre.

(Written on 08/15/2022)(Permalink)

I *think* the above remark by avionik99 should be read as extreme sarcasm, but sarcasm doesn't always transfer well into text.

(Written on 07/29/2022)(Permalink)

It is possible that the IATA not expelling Russian airlines leaves open an avenue for the restoration of relations once the Ukraine issue is worked out (hopefully in favor of retaining Ukraine as an independent sovereign nation from my point of view). Don't sanctions work better when they can escalated over time until parties are forced to the negotiating table? Cutting off all relationships might do more harm than good. What undesirable benefits are there to Russia remaining a member of the IATA while sanctions that hurt are levied in other ways?

(Written on 03/11/2022)(Permalink)

Ownership of anything is an interesting artificial concept. For most people, we own things because we have acquired the right of ownership under a legal structure enforced by an authority having jurisdiction. In some cases, we even get a piece of paper (real estate deed, vehicle title) that proves we own it. At the level of nation states, there is no overarching entity to supply an authority having jurisdiction to enforce any legal structure. So we have some international organizations, along with treaties (agreements between countries), to provide a pseudo-authority. When things get nasty between nation-states, the relevance of the pseudo-authority becomes questionable and ownership becomes malleable. A nation state such as Russia seizing an entire sovereign nation such as Ukraine dwarfs the seizing of assets such as Russia seizing the assets of "foreign businesses" in Russia or a country like Canada seizing assets like an airplane. As long as the seizure of assets is done acc

(Written on 03/11/2022)(Permalink)

I think that many people who buy quadcopter style drones are really buying a camera platform, not a flying machine. I doubt that many of them are all that interested in trying to DIY a platform when an affordable, functional product is available for purchase.

(Written on 02/04/2022)(Permalink)