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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

#131

Post by thaumasiotes »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #122
thaumasiotes wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm really surprised a Chinese bought IKEA card could be used in the USA anyways. These things usually rent transferable between countries.

I can't guarantee that it was usable -- I didn't try to buy anything with it, and for IKEA US to sell to me in CNY they'd have to have an exchange rate set up -- but it was definitely readable.

On the other hand, when I asked the recipient (it was a wedding gift) about it later, he reported that his wife had recorded it as having an appropriate-given-the-exchange-rate quantity of USD, so I suspect it was in fact usable.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#132

Post by Caligula »

ofek wrote: post #125

As a wheelchair user (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) I can tell you the article left out one of the worst things airlines do. From what I can tell, they offer crew absolutely no training on how to handle electric wheelchairs (very brittle and expensive). I've flown ~22 times in my life and 10 times they completely broke my chair; stripped joystick, tire came off twice, cut wires (how?), electronics fried by some unknown li…

I am also in a electric chair. Flying is a terrifying process. My cringe seeing the luggage folks carrying the chair onto the conveyor belt.

The worst part is that its not even bad that the chair breaks, its bad that at the destination your stuck immobile with a 300 pound device.

I rarely travel for this reason. The other is that a attendant/family member is required to come or your not allowed on the flight. I accept this but it still sucks.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#133

Post by kalleboo »

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…

Interesting - the last time I tried to use their loyalty card ("IKEA Family"), it didn't work internationally.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#134

Post by kalleboo »

josemrb wrote: post #90
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…

I've built a few systems for low-cost airlines in South America. There shouldn't be a lot of difference with bigger airlines around the world. The boarding software usually checks that: - The boarding pass is valid (checksum) - The flight state is correct e.g. 'boarding' and 'open' - The passenger did check-in - The passenger haven't boarded yet More advanced implementations can match the gate with the flight, this i…

> The beep usually is a response from the reader indicating that the code has been read successfully.

In Japanese domestic terminals, the gates are definitely more advanced - they play a different chime depending on your frequent flier status.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#135

Post by fulafel »

mrout wrote: post #129
fulafel wrote: post #41

We have to drastically reduce air travel to cope with global warming and excess CO2. It's pretty unethical to fly more than a few times a year. CO2 injected into the upper atmosphere causes 2-3x warming vs ground level CO2 emissions.

That's just stupid. There's way more to be gained by restricting cattle and cars than planes.

We have to it on many fronts, all the slices of the pie are small. Subdividing categories until you can say "this is too small to matter" is self deception. You just did it to the transportation sector :)

Air travel is growing exponentially, trend needs to be reversed: http://reports.weforum.org/travel-and-tourism-competitivenes...

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#136

Post by seanmcdirmid »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #131
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really surprised a Chinese bought IKEA card could be used in the USA anyways. These things usually rent transferable between countries.

I can't guarantee that it was usable -- I didn't try to buy anything with it, and for IKEA US to sell to me in CNY they'd have to have an exchange rate set up -- but it was definitely readable. On the other hand, when I asked the recipient (it was a wedding gift) about it later, he reported that his wife had recorded it as having an appropriate-given-the-exchange-rate quantity of USD, so I suspect it was in fact usab…

Strange. This is then a sure way around Chinese currency controls, given that the RMB isn't convertible.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#137

Post by tropo »

The non-disabled people have it bad enough.

Consider being 7 feet tall. You may split your head or get a concussion at the door or from things that hang down. The seats are too small; you'll have to sit with legs folded up and knees by your chest. You can't stand up in the restroom.

Consider being 4 feet tall. Your knees are on top of the seat. As your legs hang off the end of the seat, pressure on your upper calves is painful. You might be tempted to relieve the pain by kicking the seat in front of you.

Consider being 500 pounds. Your neighbors will be terrified. You might actually injure them. It has happened, causing nerve damage. You might injure yourself.

Re: Air carriers are still failing people with disabilities

#138

Post by mrout »

fulafel wrote: post #135
mrout wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just stupid. There's way more to be gained by restricting cattle and cars than planes.

We have to it on many fronts, all the slices of the pie are small. Subdividing categories until you can say "this is too small to matter" is self deception. You just did it to the transportation sector :) Air travel is growing exponentially, trend needs to be reversed: http://reports.weforum.org/travel-and-tourism-competitivenes...

Air travel will slow down when tickets get more expensive as fuel costs rise as we reach peak oil.
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