A Lack of Data
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A Lack of Data
I flew down to Orlando yesterday to check out the training center and spend a couple days meeting with Andy and Brian. I haven't been down here since the center opened and haven't see my partners since PASS last year. Actually I still haven't seen the training center, getting here late, but I will tomorrow.
Denver to Orlando is usually a 3 1/2 hour flight. Add in some before and after airport time and it should be about 5 hours from entering to exiting the two airports. I ended up taking 8 hours and it wasn't that fun. There were delays on both ends and in the air and add to that the first three rental cars I was assigned went missing.
However the thing that really stunk about the trip was that I never knew what was going on. Arriving at the gate, late and out of breath from my job through the terminal, I stood around waiting for them to call for boarding. They did, but 15 minutes later, without any explanation. Then we were stuck on the plane before taking off, again, no explanation. This continued on at each stage and I was left to wonder each time what was causing a delay.
I make my living with information. Storing it, protecting it, and disclosing it to those with an interest. It's been very rare that things were made worse by disclosing information. In most cases, the situation would have worked out better, or did, by disclosing information. Especially in customer service situations.
I know there are places where less information is better, military, medical, and other places. But for the most part that's not the case. I would have asked for the disclosure, but with all the new regulations and horror stories I've read in the last few years about airline security, I was a little afraid of making waves.
And ending visiting another new center: the Denver jail.
Steve Jones
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hi.
Unfortunately your story is not amazing at all. In my country -Spain- is faster to travel by train between big cities such as Madrid (capital) and Barcelona instead of take a fly...
How many km between them? Around six-hundred...
I reckon -I don't know exactly, correct me if I'm going wrong- that between Denver and Orlando will have 2000 km. Well, listen now. Using any High Speed Train and as average 250km/h (in France 300 is possible) you'd reach Orlando in 8 hours.
Jezz,
Amazing..
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Your airline carrier could learn something from the Underground train drivers in London. Although there are frequent delays on the Tube, passengers are always informed of the reason for the delay. I find this extremely helpful in defusing a porentially hostile situation. Being stuck in a tunnel for a few minutes seems less important than the knowledge that you are there because someone was caught under a train.
Alternatively, knowing you are delayed due to yet another signal failure does not help the Underground's PR image.
However, to do the situation justice, Londoners have been driving in the Underground for over 100 years. Plenty of time to get it right!
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In 1984 I visited the US from England, arriving at JFK with hand baggage only. Time taken from leaving the plane to leaving the terminal was about 15 minutes, most of that simply walking the distance. In 2001 I visited Houston from England and spent about 90 minutes waiting to get through immigration. Recent flights have had 60-minute+ delays in immigration at Atlanta and JFK. I have decided that although the US is a wonderful holiday destination, I will spend my money elsewhere where I feel more like a guest than a threat.
Experience over the last year is that taking 90 minutes or more at the departure and arrival airports is normal. If the airline has any problems then the delays get extended, but the most you are normally told is there is 'A delay'. I think ground-based customer srevice from both airports and airlines is often very poor, with the customer (the person who is paying for all this!) given very little information.
I think air travel is getting seriously differentiated. Senior executives are increasingly using smaller airports where the formalities take less time. Many others (including me) are using regional airports for the same reason. The rest are having to put up with what seem to be increasingly longer times at the big airports. For me, I now look at if my journey really needs air travel, and if so I would rather use my local airport, SOU, instead of the crush and wait at Heathrow or Gatwick. The whole air travel industry needs to look at improving the customer experience if they want to meet growth targets.
Original author: https://github.com/SQL-FineBuild/Common/wiki/ 1-click install and best practice configuration of SQL Server 2019, 2017 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008 and 2005.
When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist - Archbishop Hélder Câmara
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The lack of information, the lack of customer service, and generally feeling like a criminal is many reasons not to fly in the united states. Unfortunately, though, the airplane is the best way to get from point a to point b. I am not aware of any long distnace rail that would bring you here to the Orlando area, I think that the great majority of people are flying. I wonder- if you don't mind me asking- what air carrier did you fly. In general I have had positive experiences with Airtran (though I had gotten delayed greatly and when I asked why the counter clerk was more than happy to explain) and Northwest Airlines. US Airways was good about giving information, just not good at scheduling their flights.
In any event, even though it is a pain in the neck to fly here in the US you really don't have much of a choice. I believe that things will likely get worse rather than better-- especially given we live in a society so obsessed with safety that they are willing to live with a great deal of inconvenience.
Aleksei
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In the early 70's I got a private pilot license in the USA because my travel required me to be away from home so much, and using a light plane increased my time at home and my productivity on the job.
Fortunately, today I don't have to travel, but if that changed and most trips were within 1000 miles of my home, I would use my private plane for the trip. Today, my plane is only a hobby that I would not be involved in were it not for my son's interest.
That said, even with aircraft ownership and years of experience, most of my travel that goes over 1000 miles is done by commercial airliner. I like to think I'm good at most things that I attempt, but you can't beat the safety and convenience of commercial airliners and professional pilots.
I don't mean to disagree with all the points made about poor service, lack of delay information, long security lines, etc., but commercial air travel is still the best bang for the buck in the USA and the world for longer trips.
The trip from Denver to Orlando would take at least two hard days of driving in a car, and not knowing the train connections, my guess is that it could take longer by train. If you flew a private aircraft the 1600 miles between the two cities, the cost would be about 3 times the price of the airline ticket, and it would take at least 8 hours in any private aircraft all but the wealthiest individuals could afford.
FYI, my old, I'm saying OLD son, 1959 Cessna 175 cruises at about 135 MPH. Plenty fast for an old guy like me, but way to slow for that Denver to Orlando trip
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The true crux of the problem is summed up in your last two lines.
“I would have asked for the disclosure, but with all the new regulations and horror stories I've read in the last few years about airline security, I was a little afraid of making waves.
And ending visiting another new center: the Denver jail. “
Unfortunately it’s a common and valid fear. That is the state of affairs the current administration has brought us to.
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"I believe that things will likely get worse rather than better-- especially given we live in a society so obsessed with safety that they are willing to live with a great deal of inconvenience."
I would phrase it differently. I don't think our society is obsessed with safety (if it were there would be fewer people driving around while yapping on their cellphones), but rather is a society that lives under a government whose main goal these past several years is to yell "danger" in an effort to grab more power at the expense of our rights and privacy.
I have not heard of a single major terrorist threat that was thwarted by all this new "security" (read: privacy abuse and inconvenience). Osama must be slapping his leg and laughing every time he reads about this dumb sh*t we have to go through just to visit another state in the "land of the free".
But you shouldn't be afraid to ask about the delay; Guantanamo Bay and the other "black sites" are strictly for non-citizens... you'd probably just get anally probed in a back room and then allowed to go on with your business.
</rant>
-- Stephen Cook
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I think I'll be afraid of the "probe"
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I agree with Simon Monk.
"I was a little afraid of making waves"
Very quietly a line has now been crossed, from trust to fear.
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Hey Steve,
That kind of situation is so typical for your country. And all this story is quite weel described in Ferenheit 9/11. Here the govenment's aim (and in this particular case use can change the word Govenment by enterprise, organization...) is to maintain the fear. As long as people are afraid they will accept everything what they would have refused earlier.
It was the same in my former company. Some year after the start of the company we wanted to implement some control procedure. It has been rejected by the employees. They didn't wanted to have any big brother. Some month' later it have been some things stolen there. From that moment on we could implement ten times higher security elements then before we have proposed. And it have been no single voice against.
This is especially the case in the US where everything is extremly regulated.
I have only one question what I have already raised here in Europe. Why to have such a high control for the domestic flights where in the meantime there is no control at all on the trains, buses, cars. If I would really carry a bomb, then I would use those transports.
This just a simple fear politics which have been exported to Europe which I regret extremely.
Bye
Gabor
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