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Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

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Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#81

Post by ljm »

huangc10 wrote: post #37

Yeh, whiteboard works but another more technical solution could be roll out a TV stand and hook up the TV to a laptop via HDMI and update schedule live through a shared doc (Google docs?). I mean, whatever works right...

That would require power sockets to not be a monumentally scarce resource inside an airport. Nobody is going to look for the TV rolled between a row of seats (that cause a dozen more people to have to stand or sit on the floor), facing a completely useless direction, to get flight updates. The airport isn't going to drag extension cords across the entire lounge without risking breaking somebody's neck.

They'll stare at the blank screens and wonder what's happening. A whiteboard in front of those screens, and other hot-spots, is far more considerate of how people behave inside a departure lounge.

Low-tech solutions to high-tech problems can be quite beautiful when executed well. It's a sign of good contingency planning because they anticipated no network availability, rather than betting on network redundancy.

I hope the few people who missed their flights were compensated in some way (refunds, seats on the next available flight...).

Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#82

Post by LiamPa »

7dare wrote: post #63
duxup wrote: post #45

Distantly related but when I was in Europe decades ago I was at a train station where they had a massive split-flap display ( I want to say at a couple places ). I loved watching it update. Aesthetically it was so much better than big super bright screens.

They still have it at the Gare de Lyon in Paris

And Gare du Nord

Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#83

Post by Dylan16807 »

williamdclt wrote: post #73
antidesitter wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously it’s better than shutting down the airport. But is it better than the alternatives Someone1234 proposed? That was the question.

I don't have the data of course but it does seem better. Those alternative are pretty expensive to build and maintain, have to be tested regularly and are prone to failure. For a situation that has a very low probability of happening, whiteboards do seem more reasonable, that's a very lean approach!

The chance of a single fiber line getting cut is not "very low", it's something that a big entity should expect to happen. Much like a power outage; I'm sure they have very good plans for that case. An extra modem is cheap as dirt.

Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#84

Post by monksy »

Reason077 wrote: post #65
kalleboo wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, all the apps (airport, airline, travel apps, even Apple Wallet e-tickets) all have unreliable or heavily delayed gate information. Does anyone really rely on them?

Info viewed directly in the Apple Wallet screen is delayed, for sure. That applies to all apps - the tickets/"cards" don't seem to refresh that often. But what you see inside the app should generally be up to date, although I guess not all apps are equal. The US airline's apps tend to be very good, sending you real time notifications of gate changes and flight delays. On Delta, the app even took me directly to a rebo…

Depends on the airline. United's app is terrible about updating on gate changes.

Jetblue is incredibly sensitive about any change and will do a push notification for it. (Your flight landed 2 minutes late, etc)

Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#85

Post by [deleted] »

dmurray wrote: post #75
tantalor wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence

This is the opposite of a garden path sentence: the first verb really is part of the sentence's main clause - i.e. the meaning of the sentence is "Whiteboards [are] used..." instead of "Whiteboards...fail".

[deleted]

Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#86

Post by warrenm »

monksy wrote: post #84
Reason077 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Info viewed directly in the Apple Wallet screen is delayed, for sure. That applies to all apps - the tickets/"cards" don't seem to refresh that often. But what you see inside the app should generally be up to date, although I guess not all apps are equal. The US airline's apps tend to be very good, sending you real time notifications of gate changes and flight delays. On Delta, the app even took me directly to a rebo…

Depends on the airline. United's app is terrible about updating on gate changes. Jetblue is incredibly sensitive about any change and will do a push notification for it. (Your flight landed 2 minutes late, etc)

United's hit-or-miss: sometimes they're Johnny on the Spot

Other times? Yeah...not so much

(they're better when you enable push notifications for your flights (and I set up SMS notifications, too))

Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#87

Post by FearNotDaniel »

duxup wrote: post #45

Distantly related but when I was in Europe decades ago I was at a train station where they had a massive split-flap display ( I want to say at a couple places ). I loved watching it update. Aesthetically it was so much better than big super bright screens.

Frankfurt Airport still has an enormous one (landside, not for those already waiting to board). It's absolutely beautiful to watch.

Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#88

Post by mikepurvis »

londons_explore wrote: post #70
mikepurvis wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, the full-manual solution of having whiteboards on standby covers a much broader spectrum of failures.

As well as a whiteboard on standby, you also need 1 person per whiteboard to keep them updated. In an airport as big as gatwick, you probably can't get away with anything less than ~10 whiteboards (5 per terminal). Which means 10 people. Not many companies have 10 spare people on site ready to act as emergency whiteboardmen.

There are 21000 people employed at Gatwick airport. There are going to be a lot more than ten people on standby at any given time, waiting to take on exactly the kinds of surprise situations which are business as usual in a busy airport.

Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#89

Post by cbhl »

kalleboo wrote: post #57
Reason077 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably it helps that many (most?) travellers will be using the airline's apps these days, which provide info such as boarding times and gate updates.

In my experience, all the apps (airport, airline, travel apps, even Apple Wallet e-tickets) all have unreliable or heavily delayed gate information. Does anyone really rely on them?

I get Tripit Pro through work and I find that I usually get push notifications through the app before the flight information displays in the airport (!) have updated. YMMV.

Re: Whiteboards used after Gatwick flight information screens fail

#90

Post by [deleted] »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #80
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why they have no fallback strategies They do. It's the whiteboards. Whiteboards are cheap, resilient and robust. Exactly what one wants for a backup.

It's a good overall plan C. But why does the data link itself have no fallback? An important data link should have multiple dissimilar backups.

[deleted]
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