News and notes from around the interweb:
- Berlin’s new airport is already six years late and nobody knows when it will really open
With two different German federal states involved in the project, the airport became a wrangling ground for politicians at all levels.
“There was never a central management installed to oversee and properly monitor the project as a whole. So this created an environment where no one knew what the real situation was anymore,” says Andreas Spaeth, a German aviation industry analyst and author.
- On December 15 people wearing ugly sweaters get priority boarding on Alaska, Horizon, and Virgin America. Apparently it’s ‘national ugly sweater day’ and festive holiday sweaters get rewarded.
- How backward is the tech at FAA air traffic control facilities? Forget the paper flight strips,
“At my facility, the radar scopes that are currently in use date back to 1974; the radar itself was commissioned in 1972. While we received some Y2K upgrades in 1999, in essence we are working air traffic the same way we did when ARTS II was commissioned around 1980. Our building will be 55 years old this year.”
- Two elderly tourists have fist fight over an umbrella on a Caribbean beach (HT: Khalil D.)
- Global Distribution System (‘GDS’) Amadeus has generated a 500% return since IPO’ing 7 years ago when assuming dividend reinvestment. Airlines pay ~ $5.10 per booking handled through their system.
- Advice from American Airlines on how to survive other passengers.
May we humbly suggest a slow stroll throughout the cabin. #Breather
— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) December 6, 2017
- Saturday Night Live skewered Aer Lingus, here’s their reply
Just tried watching Saturday Night Live – unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Ronan impersonation just can't get any worse. Sad
— Aer Lingus (@AerLingus) December 3, 2017
Ever since Trump ran for president common courtesy and decency has been thrown out the window. American tourists fighting over a stupid umbrella? It’s just embarrassing and shows what has become of us. Reminds me of a Trump rally.
Heaven forbid we are responsible for our own behavior!! I find this a ridiculous statement when we start blaming Trump or anyone for our own bad behavior. And I am not a Trump lover but we are getting crazy in our thinking!
Mark: Hahaha, US tourists used to be the most obnoxious by a large margin: http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-behaved-tourists-2013-5
I think China might take the top now: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2102308/who-are-worlds-worst-tourists-six-nations-stand-out
Hard to find non-biased reports though..
Gary, loved reading the headline along with the subheader about “the most important stories of the day” – don’t you mean most entertaining?
GDSs own a TON of data and have for many years. The robust data collection, storage, and access was years ahead of its time and companies today are just starting to realize the value in big data. I worked at Worldspan in 2000 and it was very impressive the amounts and kinds of data we had…there was a distinct reason that Orbitz, Expedia, and Priceline paid big $$ for access to that data.