News notes from around the interweb:
- Southwest makes a #MeToo change to their safety announcement telling passengers to let a flight attendant know about ‘unwelcome behavior’ by fellow passengers.
You know, Southwest used to call its automated ticketing machines “quickies” and flight attendants wore hot pants and gogo boots.
- Google is driving a lot more traffic to the American and Delta websites which helped AA.com to $63 million in revenue in a singe day.
- Reviewing Ross Douthat’s The Decadent Society, Peter Thiel opens with stagnation in modern aircraft. This isn’t entirely fair – we may once again see Concorde-type speeds from efforts like Boom aerospace, and there’s been tremendous innovation in safety since the 1950s – but by the metric of speed we haven’t done much.
When Boeing introduced its flagship 707 jet airliner in 1958, the power to cruise at 977 kilometers per hour did more than enable routine transcontinental commercial flights. It fed the optimistic self-understanding of a society proud to have entered the Jet Age. More than sixty years later, we are not moving any faster. Boeing’s latest plane, the 737 MAX, has a cruising speed of just 839 kilometers per hour—to say nothing of its more catastrophic limitations.
The since-retired 707 was a success. The new MAX looks like a failure.
- Tidbits from airline startup Breeze’s DOT filing
Embraer 195 in Breeze Airways Livery, Credit: Breeze Airways - Department of Homeland Security considering using the data sharing part of REAL ID for immigration enforcement
- No seat back entertainment, so device power, what are two strangers to do on a long flight?
What’s more stupid than having this in a safety briefing is having to have a safety briefing in the first place. It is intuitive to tell a flight attendant if you are having safety issues. It doesn’t need to be part of an announcement on every flight. Likewise unless this is your first flight, very few people actually pay attention to the safety briefing, not that it matters. It is intuitive that exits are either in front of you, behind you or right next to you. The safety briefing is a waste of time and a product of bureaucracy and the legal industrial complex.
Now that’s a great seatmate – well done middle seat guy
looks like that’s DL, interactive IFE…
GRy- that isn’t a #Metoo announcement— that was a diminishing way to describe a very valid concern.
I flew Delta this week and heard a similar line in their safety briefing. It’s interesting that I even noticed it – I’ve heard those safety announcements so many times that I just don’t hear them at all anymore. But this was new content and it caught my attention. I think it’s a good idea. It’s good to know that flight crews are getting at least a little bit of training in this area. And no, Mr. Adams, it is not intuitive to know that someone is prepared to help you if your seatmate starts pawing at you or whispering inappropriate things. Especially for children, teenagers, and very young men and women who might be traveling alone for the first time. And you know who DOES listen to safety announcements? Kids. Bravo, Southwest and Delta.