raining ktula » airport

Total flight miles for 2007

ktula — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:02:14 +0000

After an off year in 2006, during which i traveled 53,490 flight miles on 43 flights, i broke my highest flight miles record (141,871 miles in 2003). In 2007, i traveled 161,372 flight miles on 120 flights. By mid July last year, i already achieved the Platinum elite status on Northwest Airlines.

In 2007, i flew into the following cities:
Phoenix (2x), Detroit (38x), San Francisco (2x), San Jose (1x), Minneapolis (12x), Boston (2x), Providence (23x), Newark (1x), Narita (2x), Singapore (2x), Taipei (1x), Johor Bahru (1x), Kuala Lumpur (1x) and Seattle (32x).

I am currently on my last business trip for IBM. In about a week and a half, i will be starting my new job which requires no travel.

Pick up your bags in 30 minutes (if you are lucky)

ktula — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 06:34:08 +0000

Let’s face it, US-based airlines have never been quick in getting the check-in luggages onto the baggage claim carousels. The average time for my check-in bags to show up at the carousel from the moment the plane arrives at the gate, regardless of the airline i travel on, is more than 30 minutes. In this day and age of air travel where passengers are pretty much forced to check in their luggages due to the dwindling number of items allowed in the carry-on bags. You would think that airlines and airports would make an effort to improve the check-in baggage delivery time with the increase in the volume of check-in bags. Nope. Check-in bags are still taking as long as before, if not longer (it took about 45 minutes on one of my recent flights).

Why is it so difficult to have my check-in bags show up the moment i arrive at the baggage claim carousel? I have flown to numerous airports in the U.S. and international cities and the difference in baggage delivery time is like night and day. In the last two years, i flew to China on three occasions. I flew into four different Chinese airports (Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan and Fuzhou) on three international flights and two domestic flights, and in all of my flights, my check-in bags were already on the carousels when i arrived to pick them up. Has any of my check-in bags ever shown up on the carousels in any US airports the moment i arrive to pick them up in the last ten years of travel, averaging at least 75,000 miles a year? Never. Not even once.

Why do US-based airlines have such a miserable check-in luggage delivery time?

Inadequate number of baggage handlers per flight. On most of the domestic flights i took, i have not seen more than two baggage handlers per flight unloading the bags. One guy loads the bags onto the conveyor vehicle and the second guy picks them up from the conveyor vehicle into the baggage truck. As airlines keep trying reduce cost by hiring the minimal number of baggage handlers needed per flight, the delivery time of the check-in luggages suffers.
No designated baggage handlers for each airport. By that, i mean each airline here has its own baggage handlers. Of all the international (non-US) airports that i have been to, most of the baggage (or ground) handlers that i have seen are actually employed by designated ground handling firms, instead of being employed by the airlines. For example, the ground handling services in Singapore’s Changi International Airport are handled by three companies: Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS), Changi International Airport Services (CIAS) and Swissport. I believe having a designated ground handling crew for the whole airport helps set a uniform standard for baggage delivery.
Poorly designed and antiquated airport baggage claim areas. Some of the domestic airport terminals that i have been to do not even have a centralized display to inform passengers the baggage claim carousels where their check-in bags will show up. One good example of an extremely badly designed baggage claim area is Terminal 2 of the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. Terminal 2 baggage claim area serves five airlines (Alaska, Air Canada, Continental, Ted and United) but there are only four baggage claim carousels.

Imagine passengers from four different flights crowding around the baggage claim area at the same time. These four oval carousels are situated in a tiny area about 15 feet apart from each other in a square shape. In the middle of each carousel is a display that is supposed to indicate your flight. I said “supposed to” because half the time i don’t see my Alaska air flight number showing up on any of the four displays. How hard is it to have a centralized display that informs me which carousel my bag will show up on? Why do i have to check each of the four displays to figure out where my bag will end up? On a few occasions, it was announced that bags from my flight would show up on one particular carousel but ended up appearing on another carousel. Of course, i didn’t figure that out until it was too late.

When i arrived at the Shanghai Pudong International airport, on one of the many centralized displays i easily located the baggage claim carousel where my bag showed up, and yes, the moment i arrived at the carousel.

Baggage claim crowding solution: the Hog Buster

ktula — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:29:29 +0000

(Update below)

If you are a frequent flyer like me, you are probably constantly frustrated by the inconsiderate throng of people packing around the baggage claim carousel preventing you from seeing and retrieving your bag while they are waiting for their checked bags to show up. What i do not understand is why can’t those carousel hoarders, as i like to call them, move next to the carousel only after they have seen their bags. By merely moving back from the carousel by a few feet while waiting for the bags, so many more passengers will be able to have a better view of the carousel and therefore be able to get to their bags quickly without having to fight through the heedless crowd.

I think i have a perfect solution for this problem. Loosely based on the theory of “negative reinforcement”, the Hog Buster will make sure that only passengers with bags physically on the carousel are allowed within 5 feet (naturally, this range is configurable) of the carousel. If passengers step onto the “courtesy zone” without their bags on the carousel, they will be subjected to a mild localized eletric shock. If this mild electric shock fails to do the trick, the strength of the shock will be increased gradually, until the offenders are rendered uncomfortable enough to leave the “courtesy zone”. Eventually, the passengers will learn, most likely painfully, that they should only be next to the baggage claim carousel when their bags are actually on the carousel. Problem solved.

So, how can this be achieved? During the check-in process, as it is now, you are issued baggage claim ticket for your bag to be checked in. With the Hog Buster system, each claim ticket is inserted with a RFID device which has a unique signature. A similar RFID device is placed on the baggage label attached to your bag. On top of the baggage claim carousel at the destination airport, there will be a giant electronic display board. When your bag is placed on the carousel, the RFID sensor on the carousel will acknowledge that and will send the information to the giant display notifying you that your bag is ready to be picked up. When you stand next to the carousel to retrieve your bag, sensors around the “courtesy zone” will confirm that you are indeed permitted to be in the “courtesy zone” by validating with the RFID claim ticket that you have on you. Passengers without their bags on the carousel are subjected to the localized electric shocks. The only remaining technical issue is how the electric shocks can be applied to the offending passenger without affecting other legitimate passengers?

More questions? Check out the Hog Buster FAQ below.

Can the Hog Buster be configured with a more “humane” negative reinforcement system?
Yes, most definitely. Instead of sending electric shocks which could potentially be fatal to some inconsiderate fools, the Hog Buster can be configured with an audible notification system. For example, instead of sending a mild electric shock to the offender, the audible notification system will announce, over the speakers, with a message like “Mr. John Doe, please kindly step away from the courtesy zone until your bag is ready.” If that offender chooses to remain there, the message will be upped to something like “Mr. John Doe, move away from the courtesy zone until your bag is ready.” If offender continues to ignore the previous messages, the next warning can be something like “Mr. John Joe, move your inconsiderate ass out the courtesy zone. You are blocking others from retrieving their bags, you stupid fucking moron…”, you get the point.
What happens if English is not the native language of the passenger?
Very simple. During the check-in process, the native language of the passenger can be stored in the RFID claim ticket. If that passenger is in the “courtesy zone” before his bag is ready, the system will make announcements in the passenger’s native language, making sure that the passenger fully understands his/her selfish behavior.
What happens if the passenger has lost his claim ticket?
If the passenger has lost his claim ticket, by right he should not be able to claim the luggage unless he can prove that he is the rightful owner. The system can be configured to disable the electric shock applicator or the audible notification system if more than 90% of the bags have been retrieved. So when the “all clear” sign has been issued, the passenger can move on to the “courtesy zone” to retrieve his bag.
What other options are available to deal with unruly passenger who refuses to budge no matter how much electric shock and insults have been hurled at him?
For the extremely difficult passenger, if both the electric shocks and verbal abuses proved to be ineffective, the Hog Buster system can be configured with the Bamboo Kabob module. The Bamboo Kabob module is basically a bunch of sharpened bamboo sticks coated with Komodo dragon saliva and wild boar feces that, when combined, is guaranteed to cause maximum infection in the shortest amount of time. The Bamboo Kabob module works like this: when final attempts of both the electric shocks and the verbal insults have been exhausted, the bamboo sticks will pierce upward through the perforated floor in the “courtesy zone”, into the feet of the offending passenger. The severe pain and the infection that will soon follow should be sufficient to remind the passenger not to repeat his thoughtless act again.
Can the Spotlight module be added with all other modules?
All the modules, including the Spotlight module, are designed to work individually as well as together for maximum effectiveness. The Spotlight module will be crafted with one of the most powerful lighting elements available in the industry. When the offending passenger is identified by the sensors in the “courtesy zone”, at least three separate spotlights will be shined upon the individual. If the embarrassment alone is not enough to make the offender move out of the “courtesy zone”, the G.I Joe-plastic-toy-melting heat from the spotlights will.

Update 2010-01-29:
My friend Jaime just came up with a brilliant idea for a hog buster module: The Incinerator Module. Instead of trying to figure out how to implement a localized electric shock or having to worry about the potential lawsuits from people being humiliated, shocked, amputated, burned or killed by the hog buster, the incinerator module will incinerate a passenger’s luggage if he stands in the courtesy zone when he is not supposed to. We just have to make sure passengers sign the luggage waiver during check-in acknowledging that any violation of the courtesy zone will result in their luggages being vaporized. I think nothing motivates some people more than burning (literally) a hole in their wallets.