Look closely at the screen shot showing off the new MSN Search. That's Firefox, not IE.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Another Way the Airlines Screw Passengers
A conversion my father had with a Continental Airlines gate agent yesterday lead to my realization of another way the airlines are screwing passengers. You see, the airlines have put Regional Jets on a lot of routes, not only those formerly operated by turboprop aircraft, but also those formerly operated with larger jets like 737s and DC-9s.
So why is this a problem? It's simple. There's not a lot of space for carry-on luggage in the cabin of RJs, so like on turboprops, most "carry-on" bags need to be checked. The airline will let you drop off your bag on a cart next to the aircraft, and you pick it up on another cart after the plane lands. Different airlines have different names for this. For example, Horizon Air calls it a la cart.
So how does this screw the passenger? As my father learned, the airline will not be responsible for damage to bags checked plane side. Most passengers know that fragile items should be carried on, to avoid the possibility of their items being damaged when passing through the baggage systems or as a result of rough handling by airline employees. Checking a bag plane side helps as it avoids some of the machinery, but it is still subject to rough handling when being loaded into the aircraft's cargo compartment. By using RJs instead of larger jets, the airlines force passengers who had hoped to avoid damage to fragile items by carrying them on to check them anyway, with the bonus that the airline will not pay for any damage that results.
So why is this a problem? It's simple. There's not a lot of space for carry-on luggage in the cabin of RJs, so like on turboprops, most "carry-on" bags need to be checked. The airline will let you drop off your bag on a cart next to the aircraft, and you pick it up on another cart after the plane lands. Different airlines have different names for this. For example, Horizon Air calls it a la cart.
So how does this screw the passenger? As my father learned, the airline will not be responsible for damage to bags checked plane side. Most passengers know that fragile items should be carried on, to avoid the possibility of their items being damaged when passing through the baggage systems or as a result of rough handling by airline employees. Checking a bag plane side helps as it avoids some of the machinery, but it is still subject to rough handling when being loaded into the aircraft's cargo compartment. By using RJs instead of larger jets, the airlines force passengers who had hoped to avoid damage to fragile items by carrying them on to check them anyway, with the bonus that the airline will not pay for any damage that results.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
You Will Be Assimilated
Well, today I was assimilated.
I have an iPod now. 20GB $279+tax at Costco, which works out to $300 plus some coins. So for the same price as one of those no tax and free shipping web sites, I got mine without having to wait for it.
The amusing part of all this, of all my PC-using friends who got iPods with their PowerBooks, I'm the one who got the HP iPod. Me, the Mac user since 1984. Go figure.
I have an iPod now. 20GB $279+tax at Costco, which works out to $300 plus some coins. So for the same price as one of those no tax and free shipping web sites, I got mine without having to wait for it.
The amusing part of all this, of all my PC-using friends who got iPods with their PowerBooks, I'm the one who got the HP iPod. Me, the Mac user since 1984. Go figure.
Friday, December 03, 2004
Atom Feed
I just enabled the Atom feed for the blog, so those of you that like those can read the blog that way. Yes, it works with Firefox's Live Bookmarks feature and with My Yahoo. The feed URL is: http://quanterium.blogspot.com/atom.xml
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