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Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

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Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#111

Post by tehwebguy »

tdb7893 wrote: post #68
throwaway91111 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TSA would be the part to disrupt, and it's not like that was ever rational to begin with—people aren't likely to realize or admit it's mostly a scare tactic to fill jobs.

But as I mentioned, it's subject to heavy regulation and most of their job description in mandated by the government. Where the money is might be selling hardware to the TSA but that's probably a big risk

Selling machines to TSA is easy. You just have to be Homeland Securty Chief for a bit first.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#112

Post by hkmurakami »

jakub_g wrote: post #77
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…

Indeed, disrupting airline-related industry is hard if you're an outsider. The technology is one hard thing, but knowing all the actors in the industry is the main advantage of GDSes. BTW switching the reservation system is hard, but not impossible. Southwest migrated its international reservations from internal system to Amadeus this very week (after a lengthy development of course).

The farther I get in my career, the more I realize that relationships are often just as, or more important than the engineering in order to get a business off the ground.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#113

Post by vermontdevil »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #110
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Exactly this.

I've had to scramble and barely make to another gate when they announced a change without making any visual updates. I only caught on when I noticed everyone being gone. (I was reading a book at that time).

I've had friends who missed flights because of these last minute changes. Even subscribing to text alerts is a hit or miss.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#114

Post by Scoundreller »

uncoder0 wrote: post #74
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…

I know a guy with the last name 'Tester' that had to have a gate agent book their flight every ~10 minutes until their flight departed because the reservation system in production would delete any reservations with the last name 'Tester'. Thought it was a fun story related to the immaturity of reservation / booking systems.

In Ontario Canada, someone recently had trouble trading in their car because it had a lien from "Pebbles and Fred Flintstone". It took 9 months to correct.

https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2017/05/10/ont-woman...

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#115

Post by Scoundreller »

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.

How are cash reserves defined? AA has $6.3b in "short term investments", but $374m in cash.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#116

Post by Scoundreller »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #105
speedyapoc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 whe…

Is the cashier "dumb" if their screen reported $100?

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#117

Post by [deleted] »

cscharenberg wrote: post #98
ryanmarsh wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of large successful businesses run on razor thin margins, however the airline industry is not lean. The internal waste is immense. Source: Had an airline for a client, saw how sausage gets made

Same in healthcare. I work in one of the EMR companies, usually onsite at clients, and the whole operation is appalling in wasted human time and just cash wasted on stupid things.

[deleted]

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#118

Post by Scoundreller »

cscharenberg wrote: post #98
ryanmarsh wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of large successful businesses run on razor thin margins, however the airline industry is not lean. The internal waste is immense. Source: Had an airline for a client, saw how sausage gets made

Same in healthcare. I work in one of the EMR companies, usually onsite at clients, and the whole operation is appalling in wasted human time and just cash wasted on stupid things.

Do tell!

I have one for our EMR: You can easily configure checkboxes, but not radio buttons, on an order form. Argh.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#119

Post by tyingq »

Scoundreller wrote: post #115
tyingq wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

How are cash reserves defined? AA has $6.3b in "short term investments", but $374m in cash.

Generally, highly liquid low risk things with a maturity of 3 months or less, for GAAP.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#120

Post by [deleted] »

Scoundreller wrote: post #115
tyingq wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

How are cash reserves defined? AA has $6.3b in "short term investments", but $374m in cash.

[deleted]
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