Life Really Is Rocket Science
If you are trying to explain something simple to someone who just isn’t getting it, you have two options. You could say “Maybe I’m not explaining this in the best possible way. Let’s try another approach.” Otherwise, like most of us, you might say, “Pay attention. This isn’t rocket science.” The real truth is that […]
Boarding Airplanes
Boarding an airplane should be a simple process. The window seats go on first, starting at the back of the plane, followed similarly by the centers and then the aisles. In practice, this doesn’t work. First, people are unpredictable and some take much longer than others. Second, and more importantly, the airlines have done their […]
Air Travel a’ la Carte
Pilots frequently give some version of the same speech during a flight – “We realize that you have lots of choices for air travel, and we thank you for choosing us.” It should come as no surprise that there is a strong correlation between airline profitability and customer service ranking; people do pay […]
Air Travel Has Come a Long Way
We have become so accustomed to the post 9/11 world of air travel that most of us have forgotten what it used to be like. This video from 1933 paints a rich picture of the early days when traveling by air was the exclusive domain of the rich and adventurous. People dressed up before […]
The Dangers of Profiling
I am a white male adult of average height and weight. I have no discernible accent. I am generally friendly, and I make eye contact when speaking with someone. Nonetheless, I am occasionally singled out by the TSA for some form of additional scrutiny before boarding a flight. I recently watched a younger male […]
Aircraft Security
On September 11, 2001, the US airline industry was shut down. Shortly after flights resumed, I flew to Boston’s Logan (the airport from which one group of terrorists departed for the World Trade Center). I reassured my wife that there had never been a safer time to fly; security was insanely tight. Since that […]
Air Safety
Modern air travel is founded on a number of assumptions regarding safety. It is assumed that dividing 15 ounces of a dangerous liquid into five 3 ounce bottles makes it safe. It is assumed that pilots are physically healthy, mentally stable individuals (see “Jet Blue Pilot Goes Berserk, Subdued by Passengers”, USA Today, 3/28/12) […]
Oldest Flight Attendant
If you are an average Joe like me boarding a United Airlines flight these days, you will have to wait in line behind the Premier Associate, Premier Silver, Premier Gold, Premier Platinum, Premier 1K, Global Services Elite and Infinite Elite. Some of these folks will have earned their status by flying a lot in […]
