Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities • Hacker News Board

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#101

Post by throwanem » Thu, May 11, 2017, 8:44 PM UTC

patmcguire wrote: post #93

adam_gyroscope wrote: post #69

Disclaimer: I built airline reservations systems with ITA Software. I don't recall there being a minimum character count for SSR codes, but in legacy reservations systems (and the passenger name records (PNR) that contain these SSRs) there's for sure a max. Airline reservations systems never met a fixed-width format they didn't like, and the reason is that for a long, long time the unit of storage for a PNR was a blo…

> Most airlines operate with a day or less of cash reserves so if the switch to a new res systems stops operation of the airline for any amount of time you could kill the airline Was this true in 2001? How did they make it through the post-9/11 shutdown? That was about two full days without flights, then a few more heavily limited.

"Congress approves $15 billion airline bailout": http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/21/rec.congress.airline.de...

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#102

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh » Thu, May 11, 2017, 9:00 PM UTC

xexers wrote: post #62

The airport in Doha, Qatar is a silent airport. There were no announcements over the PA. It was an amazing experience! I find the PA systems to be an assault on my ears and I often wear ear plugs in airports and on planes. I'd prefer silent airports. I suppose that'd be great for the deaf but not so good for the blind.

It just won't matter for the deaf, right?

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#103

Post by tyingq » Thu, May 11, 2017, 9:31 PM UTC

adam_gyroscope wrote: post #69

Disclaimer: I built airline reservations systems with ITA Software. I don't recall there being a minimum character count for SSR codes, but in legacy reservations systems (and the passenger name records (PNR) that contain these SSRs) there's for sure a max. Airline reservations systems never met a fixed-width format they didn't like, and the reason is that for a long, long time the unit of storage for a PNR was a blo…

> Most airlines operate with a day or less of cash reserves

Which airlines are we talking about? For cash reserves: American Airlines has $6.3B, Delta has $3.25B, Southwest has $3B, United has $4.3B.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#104

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 11, 2017, 10:01 PM UTC

speedyapoc wrote: post #12

stinky613 wrote: post #2

Speaking of tech failings among airlines... Can anyone tell me what the hell the ticket scanning machines at the gate are doing? In the past week United sent a French woman 2,000 miles in the wrong direction; even though her flight had changed gates, when they scanned her ticket at the (now incorrect) gate it did a normal 'OK' beep and let her through. What in the world is the point of scanning scanning tickets at th…

Almost certainly human error. Anecdotally, I had a standby ticket recently when my seat was reassigned to a paying customer, although I still had a boarding pass for that seat. I was halfway down the jet bridge before the gate agent realized that my ticket had been revoked. I imagine it's second nature for gate agents to let passengers through, and one lapse in judgement can cause the United incident, despite the sof…

[deleted]

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#105

Post by thaumasiotes » Thu, May 11, 2017, 10:05 PM UTC

speedyapoc wrote: post #12

stinky613 wrote: post #2

Speaking of tech failings among airlines... Can anyone tell me what the hell the ticket scanning machines at the gate are doing? In the past week United sent a French woman 2,000 miles in the wrong direction; even though her flight had changed gates, when they scanned her ticket at the (now incorrect) gate it did a normal 'OK' beep and let her through. What in the world is the point of scanning scanning tickets at th…

Almost certainly human error. Anecdotally, I had a standby ticket recently when my seat was reassigned to a paying customer, although I still had a boarding pass for that seat. I was halfway down the jet bridge before the gate agent realized that my ticket had been revoked. I imagine it's second nature for gate agents to let passengers through, and one lapse in judgement can cause the United incident, despite the sof…

I bought a gift card at IKEA in Shanghai for 100 yuan once. Shortly afterward, I visited IKEA in Palo Alto and asked a cashier how much was on the card. She scanned it and reported a hundred dollars. I asked her to confirm that, which she did, and then she offered me a "receipt" of the scan, which I accepted.

The printout correctly showed that the card contained 100 CNY. I've thought of IKEA ever since as a store where the cash registers are smarter than the cashiers.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#106

Post by tyingq » Thu, May 11, 2017, 10:12 PM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #101

patmcguire wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most airlines operate with a day or less of cash reserves so if the switch to a new res systems stops operation of the airline for any amount of time you could kill the airline Was this true in 2001? How did they make it through the post-9/11 shutdown? That was about two full days without flights, then a few more heavily limited.

"Congress approves $15 billion airline bailout": http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/21/rec.congress.airline.de...

Indeed, but the drop in demand after the 2 day shutdown was more impactful than the 2 days alone. Demand dropped, and didn't return to pre 9/11 levels for 3 years.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#107

Post by throwaway18917 » Thu, May 11, 2017, 10:18 PM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #103

adam_gyroscope wrote: post #69

Disclaimer: I built airline reservations systems with ITA Software. I don't recall there being a minimum character count for SSR codes, but in legacy reservations systems (and the passenger name records (PNR) that contain these SSRs) there's for sure a max. Airline reservations systems never met a fixed-width format they didn't like, and the reason is that for a long, long time the unit of storage for a PNR was a blo…

> Most airlines operate with a day or less of cash reserves Which airlines are we talking about? For cash reserves: American Airlines has $6.3B, Delta has $3.25B, Southwest has $3B, United has $4.3B.

Maybe they mean a day on Venus. ;)

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#108

Post by lazyasciiart » Thu, May 11, 2017, 11:03 PM UTC

speedyapoc wrote: post #12

stinky613 wrote: post #2

Speaking of tech failings among airlines... Can anyone tell me what the hell the ticket scanning machines at the gate are doing? In the past week United sent a French woman 2,000 miles in the wrong direction; even though her flight had changed gates, when they scanned her ticket at the (now incorrect) gate it did a normal 'OK' beep and let her through. What in the world is the point of scanning scanning tickets at th…

Almost certainly human error. Anecdotally, I had a standby ticket recently when my seat was reassigned to a paying customer, although I still had a boarding pass for that seat. I was halfway down the jet bridge before the gate agent realized that my ticket had been revoked. I imagine it's second nature for gate agents to let passengers through, and one lapse in judgement can cause the United incident, despite the sof…

Multiple human errors. Once she was on the plane, she found (unsurprisingly) that her seat was taken. A steward on the plane looked at her boarding pass and found her another seat.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#109

Post by lazyasciiart » Thu, May 11, 2017, 11:03 PM UTC

speedyapoc wrote: post #12

stinky613 wrote: post #2

Speaking of tech failings among airlines... Can anyone tell me what the hell the ticket scanning machines at the gate are doing? In the past week United sent a French woman 2,000 miles in the wrong direction; even though her flight had changed gates, when they scanned her ticket at the (now incorrect) gate it did a normal 'OK' beep and let her through. What in the world is the point of scanning scanning tickets at th…

Almost certainly human error. Anecdotally, I had a standby ticket recently when my seat was reassigned to a paying customer, although I still had a boarding pass for that seat. I was halfway down the jet bridge before the gate agent realized that my ticket had been revoked. I imagine it's second nature for gate agents to let passengers through, and one lapse in judgement can cause the United incident, despite the sof…

Multiple human errors. Once she was on the plane, she found (unsurprisingly) that her seat was taken. A steward on the plane looked at her boarding pass and found her another seat.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#110

Post by lazyasciiart » Thu, May 11, 2017, 11:06 PM UTC

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #102

xexers wrote: post #62

The airport in Doha, Qatar is a silent airport. There were no announcements over the PA. It was an amazing experience! I find the PA systems to be an assault on my ears and I often wear ear plugs in airports and on planes. I'd prefer silent airports. I suppose that'd be great for the deaf but not so good for the blind.

It just won't matter for the deaf, right?

It will matter to the deaf in a good way, because the airport will be set up to ensure that all information is communicated without using audio.