News notes from around the interweb:
- Already complaints about the new terminal that will replace Washington National’s gate 35X
- Japanese are mocking an airline self check-in kiosk still running off of Windows XP I think they must not be familiar with American Airlines Gate Reader
- Portland passenger plugged his Playstation 4 into an airport display monitor he wanted a big screen for gaming. (HT: Paul H)
This guy has his video game plugged into one of the airport monitors.
Seen yesterday at @flypdx. pic.twitter.com/9bTqc9i2Ya— Stefan Dietz 🏍️🌎 . 🚒 . 🔧 (@coyotetrips) January 17, 2020
- DC plans to deregulate taxis now that rideshares do 5 times the revenue as cabs.
- Guests Cheat to Ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland on Opening Day, Forging Fake Boarding Passes
- Amtrak wanted $25,000 to accommodate passengers in wheelchairs because too many passengers wanted to ride and they’d need to reconfigure a train. When called out on the new charges, which Amtrak used to absorb, they came up with an easy solution – the group just needs to split between two trains, three hours apart.
“With removal of seats, it can be quite costly,” the agent wrote. “In previous years, the removal of seats from the coach cars incurred fees that Amtrak absorbed … We understand and appreciate your loyalty with Amtrak. Going forward, we cannot continue to absorb these fees. These polices have changed nationwide as of 2019.”
- It’s a wing nut!
@AmericanAir Coming to you from inflight WiFi: Who can guess what's in my AA Flagship meal that shouldn't be in there? #scaredshitless #americanairlines pic.twitter.com/hfExmVnYRc
— Dan Gumpright (@dgumpright) January 17, 2020
Aren’t nuts good for you?
Well, amtrak needs to make money somehow. We can’t be whining about it not making money and not help enough people at the same time.
Everything is now transactional, as requested by 2016 voters. So shut up and shove it.
Gary, your summary of the Washingtonian article on the 35x replacement is somewhat silly. From your description, one might infer that there are design issues, cost concerns, or something material. But the article has nothing that even rises to the level of “complaints” of substance, just a rambling, half hearted attempt by the writer at an architectural critisicm that goes nowhere and is based on nothing. It was head scratching in the print magazine a month ago and just as much so now online.
I can’t say I would be happy to find a wingnut in my meal either, BUT….
Back in the day one of my audit clients was a major bakery — think food factory. From time to time customers would find things in their loaves that weren’t supposed to be there. The engineers knew full well what had fallen off some of their machinery and what had not, i.e., had been insinuated into the bread deliberately.
The take home being that, sadly, from time to time, things fall off food prep equipment and end up in the food. I’m guessing that’s what happened here. Something someone had put into the food on purpose would likely have been more offensive or dangerous.
Since I’m guessing most airlines use the same food vendor at a given airport the luckless airline, AA in this case, is probably moot.
Re 35X: no one loves to spend other people’s money more than self-styled architecture critics…
I’d be more worried about the wing that is missing a nut.
@ NG, CW — Yup, I clicked on that DCA article to see what was “wrong” with the new terminal, too. I learned that the critic thought “the design is sleek, well planned, and beautifully detailed,” but that “the new terminal will look more like the lobby of a large hotel than the audacious architectural statement it could have been.” Folks, this is a regional jet terminal! Nobody wanted to build — much less pay for — the Taj Mahal.
Did self check in kiosks even exist when xp was still a supported OS?
Makes sense, since American is based in Texas and are wing nuts found mostly in red states…….