I’ve been stuck at the airport gate for hours numerous times waiting for my delayed flight to be cleared for take-off. I see the flight agents typing away at their 1970’s-style computers frantically to rebook stranded travelers. Behind them sits an aging dot-matrix printer churning out airline codes on reams of paper.  Every so often, I hear a muted announcement over the loudspeakers regarding re-routed flights. The passengers, miserable at best, are on their smartphones frantically texting their travel status to friends and family. Some of them sit in clumps near the power outlets to refuel their power-craving gadgets. How could an airport possibly function in such chaos?

In aviation design, there is no room for chance. Every detail serves a purpose. For instance, the design of airport runways required efficiency to the finest detail. Chicago’s Midway Airport is a prime example. Considered the “busiest mile”, the airport roughly consists of a square mile of runways closely surrounded by local businesses. Its longest runway runs approximately 6000-ft, which limits the size of aircraft the airport can handle. A fully fueled Boeing 747 with maximum payload requires a minimum ground speed of 200-mph for a safe take-off, not considering incoming winds. Approximately 13000-ft of runway is needed to achieve this speed. Furthermore, airfields with limited land area implement displaced threshold airstrips.

The area of the runway marked with chevrons is the displaced threshold region. This region indicates that no aircraft is to land directly on that portion of the runway. The designation applies often when noise ordinances or structural buildings prevent a gradual aircraft descent onto the runway from a particular direction. In many cases, the displaced threshold section also offers less structural support than the opposite end of the runway; the ground on which an aircraft touches down must be able to withstand a greater pressure (force / area) than the rollout region.

How the hell does air travel function with airports working the way they do now? It is futile to seek out an explanation. Airports operate the same way our eye clinic does–despite all the mis-scheduled patients, missing charts, absent technicians; all the patients are remarkably cared for at the end of the day.

medicine, misc euphemisms, travel

We all have our travel horror stories. Some of us have missed our flights due to weather or airplane mechanical issues. I’ve read accounts of getting stuck on the tarmack for over 5 hours, or getting rescheduled to a flight after the holiday season.

My travel plans were recently foiled by weather AND the airline industry. Several hours after I had checked into my flight online, I discovered that my flight was canceled. Not via phone or email, but via seatcounter.com. I initially intended to find out whether I could catch an earlier flight, but noticed that my flight was not listed. Subsequently, I verified the cancellation on my Continental Airlines account page.

Canceling a passenger’s flight without notifying them until several hours prior to departure isn’t exactly the most responsible approach. Some of us travel hours to reach an airport. Not everyone has ubiquitous internet access to check on flights. For my return flight, I checked the airline website right before leaving for the airport (I was fifteen minutes away). According to the website, my flight was “on time”. Twenty five minutes later, when I arrived at the departure gate, my flight was 4 hours delayed.

One way to avoid being stuck at the airport is to reschedule your flight prior to arriving at the airport, especially if you know that bad weather is approaching. Airlines have become more amenable to rescheduling trips prior to the delays, and typically waive the hefty rescheduling fees. If you’re not in a rush to reach your destination, you can also volunteer to take a later flight. I’ve seen a number of travelers volunteer their seats on overbooked flights in order to obtain a complementary travel voucher and even first class seats on a subsequent flight. With rising airfare costs, a free travel voucher in exchange for a flight 4 hours later seems quite reasonable.

For tips on obtaining Wifi at the airport, see my previous post.

misc travel

Several days ago at the Delta terminal of LaGuardia Airport, I heard a familiar whirring of a machine that sounded like a continuous tear of  paper. As I glanced around the waiting area, I caught a glimpse of a cabinet underneath a kiosk where the sound of emanating from.

Indeed, the sound originated from a dot-matrix printer, happily churning out piles of connected paper with terminal-sized font.  I wondered why anyone would still be using technology from the 1970’s, but given that it’s the airline industry (airline tracking radar from 1970’s), I wasn’t too surprised.

But still, why not upgrade? The only other time I’ve seen a dot-matrix printer in operation is in the fire-alarm system of the research building.

I suppose that dot-matrix printing still has its merits. As long as the printer paper doesn’t jam, the system is virtually indestructible. A power source and a serial/parallel connector is all you need to print away. Sure, dot-matrix font is shitty, but the ink ribbon rarely needs to be replaced. Given that the fire alarm printer is locked behind a glass window, I doubt that it ever gets serviced either. Ultimately, I suppose that dot-matrix printers still have a niche: reliability with low maintenance and reliability over quality.

Still, I don’t see myself getting one of these devices anytime soon.

computing travel

An obvious facet of owning a business is knowing your competitor’s prices. If you don’t, then you’ll likely be out of business soon. We see this with taxi drivers. In NYC, there are city-governed yellowcabs and unmarked private cabbies. Most private cabbies command a higher rate, not because they provide better service but because they lurk around areas where yellow cabs are not as readily available. As a customer, the key is to negotiate a price prior to getting into the cab. However, even with informed preparation, you can still run into trouble.

I hailed a grey taxi to help me move an air conditioner 5 blocks away from my apartment.  I offered $10 for his assistance in carrying the unit to and from the cab in addition to driving me. He agreed. Afterward, he didn’t help me move the A/C, AND he charged me $15 because my A/C was “big”. Asshole. A $15 cab fare would normally get you at least 20 blocks.

My friend Bob had a more harrowing experience. After agreeing to a standard $8 fare to travel between hospital campuses, the cab driver demanded $14 when they arrived at the destination. Bob refused, and the driver locked the doors to the cab and refused to allow him to exit. He spent over 30 minutes in the cab until the driver gave in and let him out.

I understand that any business is difficult to run these days, but knowingly ripping off your regular customers is no way to remain profitable.

medicine rant, travel

Many airports in the U.S. offer free WiFi access, although those that do are tend to be smaller airports that you’re unlikely to pass through.  Exceptions include the McCarran (LAS), Denver (DEN), and Kansas City (MCI). All other airports usually have a pay-per-use service or monthly fees that are not practical for the occasional traveler who needs to send a quick email or transfer some data. For many travelers these days, however, airport-offered Wifi isn’t even necessary.

A portion of travelers will likely have a data plan on their cellular phones to push email anyway, especially with the growing popularity of phones that mandate a data plan agreement with their providers. With some technical expertise, you could tether your phone to your laptop and surf off of a 3G data network or Verizon’s DataConnect.

What about the average Joe who has a cellphone mended together with electrical tape (certainly does not have a data plan) and usually gets caught up in 2-3 hour layovers at airports? Here are some tips that can help maximize your chances of getting some free airtime during your layover:

1. At one point, Boingo’s wireless service had a holey firewall that didn’t really block any outgoing traffic to the web. I was able to append something like `?.jpg’ to my web addresses and jump the wall instantaneously.  I believe that they have since “secured” their services, and this trick no longer works. Interesting idea nonetheless.
2. If you subscribe to AT&T’s DSL service at home, you are actually entitled to use their airport wireless networks by simply using your login, provided that they are the carrier for the airport. I believe that Seattle, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Raleigh, and St. Louis are just some of the airports that use AT&T.
3. Some airports have an unencrypted, unbroadcasted networks for their internal use. You can fire up Netstumbler or Macstumbler, identify the SSID, and connect away. I’ve never done this, for ethical and legal reasons.  This should NEVER be done, and is listed for academic purposes only. In fact, any business that does this needs to fire its IT department. Security through obsfucation is no security at all.
4. If you are a member of an airline lounge, you get free wireless inside.
5. Actually, if you’re NOT a lounge member, you can STILL get free wireless. This is where the money is.  Some wireless signals of the exclusive airline lounges extend right outside of the entrance doors. Just park outside the Gold Club lounge and fire up your wireless card. Sure, you won’t get the free booze, food, and leather chairs that airline lounges offer, but you’re also not paying for membership. There are some strong signals outside the club lounges at O’Hare, Midway, San Francisco, Dulles, and Narita. If you have a laptop with an antenna built into the screen (IBM Thinkpad or MacBook are two that do), you will get an even stronger signal.

Be forewarned, if you connect on unencrypted wireless networks, be sure to lock down your system with a good firewall, and be wary of sending sensitive data. You could also route your traffic through a secured VPN. If you stick your hand in a honeypot (or sugarcane), do not be surprised if you get stuck…

Note: The aforementioned information is listed only as a theoretical exercise. Ophthosurgery.COM holds NO responsibility for the content listed here.

computing hobbies, travel