No, it's not basically the same thing, by a long shot. When an 8-to-5 company closes for a staff party, it's because their operations permit it. Medical people work on holidays, as do police and fire personnel, and air traffic controllers. Having time for "personnel to be with their loved ones" means, in addition to shutting down the airline ops, they would also have to get all those crew members back to their loved ones, then get them back to their aircraft in time for a startup. If particular flights are not flown on a particular day, more often than not it's for load or other operational reasons.

(Written on 01/06/2023)(Permalink)

Case in point: Last June, wife and I flew to Germany. Departure was delayed, so missed connex in AMS to MUC. Long story short, bags did not arrive. Next day, wife's was delivered to our hotel in MUC. I had an AirTag in my bag, so I could see that it, in fact, was actually in MUC, in the LH bag handling area. Went back to a/p next day, explained that I knew exactly where the bag was and the airtag could put me within a meter of the bag, at which point I could make it chirp, no matter how many bags were out there. I explained that I was a former ATO manager at SFO and was well aware of the dangers that can lurk among more than 1,000 lost bags, but as LH explained to me, "It is not our policy." I offered to let an agent use my iPhone in lieu of my entering the sanctum of the bag room. "It is not our policy." For the next two weeks, the bag stayed in exactly same place--I tracked it daily on my phone. After returning home, I checked dutifully every morning, and for the next two weeks

(Written on 11/04/2022)(Permalink)

If you want "fun", go to Disneyland. Oh, wait, there are lines at Disneyland, too, and you pay a lot to stand in them while you consume exquisitely expensive libations and comestibles. (Too expensive to call them mere drinks and food.) When I go to an airport, it's generally because I want to go someplace. Air travel is now a useful, sometimes limited, commodity, sometimes even fun, but let's not confuse the two.

(Written on 10/28/2022)(Permalink)

Interestingly--In the aforementioned incident,I was getting the message that the battery was low, but it still worked for weeks after that. When I finally got it back I did replace the battery.

(Written on 08/26/2022)(Permalink)

Interestingly enough, I recently flew to MUC via DL and KL, ended up last leg on LH. (WX delayed flight, missed connections, etc.) Once in MUC, as might be expected, no bags. Wife's bag arrived the next day, mine did not. Mine had an Airtag, which told me exactly where it was: in LH'S bag room at MUC. In the next two days, I made two trips from my downtown hotel back to MUC terminal, but LH would not allow me to go to the bag room and use the Airtag to find it. I told (and showed) them I could pinpoint it within a meter, and then use the pinger. No luck--"It is not our policy" nor would they use my phone (which I was willing to let them use) to do the same thing: "It is not our policy". I learned to live for two weeks in Europe out of my carry-on; all the time knowing exactly where the bag was: LH's bag room at MUC. Got back home to SLC, at which point the app told me that I was 4,608 miles from the air tag. Suddenly, at breakfast one day, I said "Holy "cow" the bag is at SLC ai

(Written on 08/26/2022)(Permalink)

There is an interesting, somewhat fun, story about the introduction of the airplane to a group of reporters. They were at the North American Aviation facility in LA, and were brought into a hangar to see a full-size, non-flying prototype, yet to be named "Valkyrie". As they entered the hangar and saw the airplane, it quickly acquired the nickname "The Saviour" due to the exclamation of irreverent surprise from nearly everyone when they first saw it.

(Written on 04/23/2022)(Permalink)

What's insignificant on an aviation site is this political drivel. The only thing even remotely aviation oriented is that the arguments tend to be extremely out on the wing, either left or especially right.

(Written on 03/11/2022)(Permalink)

I'm sorry, I must have mis-clicked--I thought that this was an aviation site, not largely a collection of cowards hiding behind their keyboards and typing to no purpose other than to acquire a moment of notoriety. Opinions are like noses, virtually everyone has one, but not everyone has knowledgeable information about aviation, which I hope to find at FlightAware.

(Written on 03/11/2022)(Permalink)

Have you worn a bikini thru a TSA checkpoint, recently?

(Written on 09/10/2021)(Permalink)

Question: Has there ever been a (known) air-to-air refueling of an unmanned drone?

(Written on 09/10/2021)(Permalink)