Tag: airports

These things exist??

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: A United flight going from Newark to Denver has to make an emergency stop in Chicago, to remove two unruly passengers from the aircraft.  The two passengers, seated one behind the other, had an altercation that stemmed from the rear passenger applying “Knee Defender” clamps, which prevent the seat ahead from being able to recline, and the front passenger taking objection to being incapable of reclining.  It culminated with front passenger throwing a cup of water in the face of rear passenger, before the flight was forced to land in Chicago to remove both from the aircraft.

Never mind the story about the altercation, the takeaway from this entire story for me is that something like Knee Defenders actually exist.  And I fucking love it.

Obviously, this is because I fly more than your average non-business traveler, and I’ve had more than my fair share of getting the one person on the entire flight who decides that they have to recline their seat.  Seriously, there will be times where I get an entire row to myself, so I decide to spread out a little bit, and the person in front of me has the exact same idea, but has to make sure that they’re in the seat in front of me.  As soon as the ding indicating that we’ve reached cruising altitude is heard, the seat plops back crudely, and if my leg is crossed, or the tray is down, it’s an unpleasant sensation of having something appear to fall into your lap.

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How to avoid Atlanta Airport curbside police aggression

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

In short, use the cell phone lot.

Cell phone lots exist at many major airports for a reason – for people to have a place to wait in their cars completely stationary, reducing the risk of inadvertent collisions while doing laps around the drop-off point.  The term comes from the obvious concept that when the person awaiting pick up is ready, both parties are in optimal and safe conditions to correspond over cell phones to arrange for pick up.

Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport was a little behind the curve, but they too now have cell phone lots.  Unfortunately, nobody uses them; either people haven’t been properly taught how to use them, or why they even exist or/and they are simply too stupid to figure it out on their own.  Subsequently, it is still a very common practice that people circle laps around the drop-off/pick up area*, even in spite of the massive construction they are doing in the middle of the route, that impedes the flow and traffic to its usual disastrous conditions.

*it baffles me to this day that despite being the statistically busiest airport in the world, Atlanta’s airport still does not have separate levels for drop off and pick up, as even a toddler could understand that one lane sharing two duties is less efficient than two lanes dividing them up separately.

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I endorse this policy

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: United Airlines is cracking down on people who abuse the lax enforcement of carry-on belongings, and will eventually begin sending people back to the ticket counter to check excessive luggage for a fee.

I support this fully.  When’s Delta going to get in on this?

Seriously though, I fly more frequently than the average person does, so I’ve witnessed beyond my share of inconsiderate people who bring a U-Haul’s worth of crap onto aircrafts, and stuff the overhead bins full before the second two-thirds of passengers can even set foot onto the plane.  It makes me feel ecstatic to see that there’s an airline that’s willing to finally push back at these greedy assholes who think that it’s perfectly acceptable for them to stuff their non-regulation size roll-aboard horizontally, along with their meticulously folded coat, as well as their purse/satchel/messenger bag, so that they can have the floor in front of them completely clear and spacious for their feet for when they inevitably lean back and sleep while snoring; in the seat right in front of yours, naturally.

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Delta Airlines gets it

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: In spite of the fact that the FCC has lifted the ban on cell phone calls during flights, Delta Airlines has stated that they will continue to not allow the use of cell phone calls during flights.

THANK GOD.

♥ Delta Airlines for doing this.

Especially since 90% of the flights I fly on are Delta, this is a massive relief to know that I will be absolved from having to listen to people blab away on their cell phones during the flight, when all I really want to do is read, peck away at my iPad and/or listen to music, without the sound of incessant chatter permeating between the cracks.

Otherwise, I hope this allowing of cell phones on flights blows up in everyone else’s faces. I hope people flying on United or American or Southwest enjoy the socially inconsiderate assholes of the world all whipping out their phones in the middle of their flights to ramble on and on about anything from their first-world problems, mind-numbingly work chatter, or gossip of the most inane and stupid shit on the planet.

I will enjoy the peace and mostly quiet that flying on Delta will continue to afford.

Owned.

Smooth as a good scotch

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Yeah, I know, gushing about how awesome a day was, is so 2001 brogging.  But it occurs to me just how rare it is that I find myself having what seems to be a genuinely good day; not to sound overly pessimistic, it just really does feel that way to me.

Anyway, I made a day trip up to Detroit, to catch a baseball game.  And anyone who’s paying attention should know by now that “going to go see a baseball game” usually entails going to see the city.  That being said, I had never been to Detroit, let alone Michigan in my entire life, and a baseball game was as good as excuse as any to tackle two goals at the same time.

Eventually, I’ll update my baseball parks page with the ballpark I went to watch the Braves lose in this time, but I just can’t really get over how smooth of a day everything went for me.  I ain’t even mad that the Braves lost.  I ain’t even mad that I had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. in order to make this day even happen.  Everything else just went so well, that it’s put me in a fantastic mood.

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This really only makes sense in Samoa

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The story: Samoa Air plans to institute a pricing model based on the weight of the passengers plus their luggage.

Has anyone ever missed a flight due to weight restrictions? I have. Long story short, I was trying to get on a flight to Mississippi, and according to all information, there were several open seats available. Much to my horror, the door closed right in front of me, and very confused, I asked why no more passengers were being allowed onto the aircraft? Because the aircraft had reached its weight capacity.

Mind you, there were five seats available at this point, which means that the flight reached its weight limit well before reaching its occupancy limit. The passengers already aboard had successfully compensated for the weight of five entire human beings.

Needless to say, I was incensed. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for those who had actually paid a full fare to get on that flight and were denied.

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Epic Chinese airport rage

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Credit Barstool Boston: I think my favorite part about this entire video is the fact that the Chinese police/TSA/whatever just kind of stood there and let this guy go to town on the check in counter.

It’s like, no wonder China is full of Triad gangs and criminals, because frankly they can apparently get away with whatever they want, when they want to, while the authorities politely wait to the side for them to turn themselves in. It’s almost as if they’re the cops from Demolition Man, and they’re waiting for the guy to finish raging and destroying the entire counter, before deciding to lay down and put his hands behind his back.

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