Encounters with the TSA

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 17:51:23 -0500, Eaten Racoon
wrote:

Malcolm Weir wrote:
Iridium ceased operations a while ago, which makes the suggestion more
than little useless!

Perhaps a visit to http://www.iridium.com/ would help convince you that you
were wrong and I was right.

My apologies.

Yes, Iridium was just days away from having its satellites sent back to burn
in the atmosphere. But it was rescued by the defense department of the USA
(they relied heavily on those phones) and remains available to non military users.

I knew a couple of (maritime) customers who were told that their
service was to be terminated....

Malc.

What I find interesting is that the phobia of checking luggage seems to
exist
only in the USA. Is the USA's record on checked luggage really much worse
than
it is elsewhere ?

The proportion of US journeys that involve 2 or more segments is much
higher than in (say) Europe.

In my (Limited) experiance of internal US travel, this seems to be down to
some real crazy (to me) pricing where it is often much cheaper to fly an
indirect route with a change rather than fly a direct service. (But I dont
really care as I dont do US internal too often, and I just lie back and
think of the extra FF miles).

Miss L. Toe wrote:
What I find interesting is that the phobia of checking luggage seems to

exist

only in the USA. Is the USA's record on checked luggage really much worse

than

it is elsewhere ?

The proportion of US journeys that involve 2 or more segments is much
higher than in (say) Europe.


In my (Limited) experiance of internal US travel, this seems to be down to
some real crazy (to me) pricing where it is often much cheaper to fly an
indirect route with a change rather than fly a direct service. (But I dont
really care as I dont do US internal too often, and I just lie back and
think of the extra FF miles)

Pricing is based on a number of factors. Connections are often cheaper
because there is often little competition on non stop routes.

"mrtravel" wrote in message
...


Miss L. Toe wrote:
What I find interesting is that the phobia of checking luggage seems to

exist

only in the USA. Is the USA's record on checked luggage really much
worse

than

it is elsewhere ?

The proportion of US journeys that involve 2 or more segments is much
higher than in (say) Europe.


In my (Limited) experiance of internal US travel, this seems to be down
to
some real crazy (to me) pricing where it is often much cheaper to fly an
indirect route with a change rather than fly a direct service. (But I
dont
really care as I dont do US internal too often, and I just lie back and
think of the extra FF miles)

Pricing is based on a number of factors. Connections are often cheaper
because there is often little competition on non stop routes.



That doesn't stop it seeming crazy to fly from Boston to MannyApplePips via
Atlanta !

Miss L. Toe wrote:


Pricing is based on a number of factors. Connections are often cheaper
because there is often little competition on non stop routes.




That doesn't stop it seeming crazy to fly from Boston to MannyApplePips via
Atlanta !


It depends on how many carriers fly nonstop from Boston to Minneapolis
and other factors.

Malcolm Weir wrote in message . ..
On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 16:34:07 -0500, Sleepy Racoon
wrote:

[ Snip ignorant drivel ]

You didn't read what I said. A handler loading a flight to paris seing a
luggage with a big "LONDON" sticker on it is more likely to seek out the tag
to ensure it does state CDG on it. If he sees LHR, then the handler will take
the luggage out and send it back to be sorted.

The handlers *ignore* random stupid stickers, on the basis that
passengers frequently mislabel their own bags, and they *don't care*
about anything other than their own labels, which are presumed to be
accurate.

This is absolutely true.

The last step in loading luggage is done by humans who assume the luggage has
been sorted properly. Putting the "LONDON" sticker doesn't garantee they will
spot a sorting error, but it increases their chances.

No, it doesn't. It makes no difference at all.

This is not. Self Labeling becomes important when, and only when,
their label falls off. Then, your label will help them figure out
whose bag it is. Putting "London" on it ain't gonna help much.
Putting your destination phone number/address can. Your frequent
flier number won't hurt either. I've been known to write my
flight numbers on it too.

so - a pencil would have the same effect, wouldn't it???

"lansbury" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:04:52 +0000, Phil
wrote:

You have our complete attention, we are all ears. Do go on.

I once dealt with a husband whose wife in a fit of rage had rammed a
knitting needle into the side of his neck and out the back.

--
Lansbury (LHR)

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 09:21:09 -0000 "Miss L. Toe"
wrote:

: What I find interesting is that the phobia of checking luggage seems to
:exist
: only in the USA. Is the USA's record on checked luggage really much worse
:than
: it is elsewhere ?

: The proportion of US journeys that involve 2 or more segments is much
: higher than in (say) Europe.

:In my (Limited) experiance of internal US travel, this seems to be down to
:some real crazy (to me) pricing where it is often much cheaper to fly an
:indirect route with a change rather than fly a direct service. (But I dont
:really care as I dont do US internal too often, and I just lie back and
:think of the extra FF miles).

Yes.

Chicago/San Diego is a lot cheaper using HP with a stop in PHX than a
non-stop. (

--
Binyamin Dissen
http://www.dissensoftware.com

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 09:21:09 -0000, "Miss L. Toe"
wrote:

The proportion of US journeys that involve 2 or more segments is much
higher than in (say) Europe.

In my (Limited) experiance of internal US travel, this seems to be down to
some real crazy (to me) pricing where it is often much cheaper to fly an
indirect route with a change rather than fly a direct service. (But I dont
really care as I dont do US internal too often, and I just lie back and
think of the extra FF miles).

There are many, many, many city pairs where there *is* no direct
service.

And in practice the phenomena you're observing may well be a function
of the availability of cheap inventory, which gets sold fastest on the
direct service than on the (hundreds of) permutations of indirect
services.

But still, it's entirely *sensible* that the longer route involving a
change of aircraft should be cheaper. It's less attractive to the
consumer because it takes longer and involves a change, and it can be
provided at lower cost since each segment consolidates traffic between
many city pairs.

[ E.g. SFO-DFW-MSY (New Orleans): the SFO-DFW leg carries, in addition
to the MSY traffic, people going to Memphis, Tampa, etc., and the
DFW-MSY leg carries not only the SFO people, but also those from LAX
and SAN and PDX... ]

Malc.

On 11 Nov 2003 05:34:24 -0800, (me) wrote:

[ Snip ]

The last step in loading luggage is done by humans who assume the luggage has
been sorted properly. Putting the "LONDON" sticker doesn't garantee they will
spot a sorting error, but it increases their chances.

No, it doesn't. It makes no difference at all.

This is not. Self Labeling becomes important when, and only when,
their label falls off. Then, your label will help them figure out
whose bag it is. Putting "London" on it ain't gonna help much.

Exactly...

Putting your destination phone number/address can. Your frequent
flier number won't hurt either.

My "bag tags" are my FF number and AA's "If found, contact any AA
office" request and their 1-800 number.

I've been known to write my
flight numbers on it too.

I tend to work on the basis that (since I normally fly AA) they can
find out where I am...

Malc.