… and SURPRISE… United have managed to ruin my luggage already.

Not a happy bunny right now – more to come later …. (and United has taken no resposibiltity as it is external damage and therefore out of the T&C;’s)

Waste of fudging space…

… and full of bacon butties and sausage barns.

It’ll make the oncoming pain of a UA flight a bit less painful…

Trip report will come in it’s own sweet time… right now.. I feel the need for a buttie or two more…

Shock and horror from the airline that brought us a finger waggle that “Smoking is not allowed on any Delta flight”

For some time people have had to guess what IFE is installed onboard an aircraft. Well Delta has taken some of the pain out of the guesswork (and wasting hours on SeatGuru) and published a list on their blog (http://blog.delta.com/2009/05/20/in-flight-entertainment-survey/)

List of what has what installed (from the list, its the combined DL+NW fleet)

(32) A330s
(7) 737-700s
(28) 737-800s
(65) 757-200s
(15) 767-300s (domestic aircraft)
(15) 767-400ERs
(8) 777-200ERs
(8) 777-200LRs
With no AVOD/IFE installed in Economy class, but installed in Business class

(16) 747-400s
(57) 767-300ERs (international aircraft BusinessElite only)

Lets do a take-apart here. Delta have done a fair bit with WiFi on planes, and improving the product, but the mid/long haul traveller is… stuffed as the 747/767 International birds are deployed on TATL, South America, Australia and Asia routes. Also the DC9/MD8x/MD9x seem to be missing from that list (which isn’t surprising – although the MD birds seem to have WiFi appearing on them…)

As usual this is a good case of check what sort of aircraft you’re flying on – it’ll give you an indicator of what to expect. If you’re flying from Europe and need to be entertained, personally, I’d target the A330 routes first…

But thumbs up to Delta for getting the list out there.

Time for some more airplane p0rn – this time from within an actual airplane

A United 757-200 in reflection, cruising between Seattle and Chicago.

Cheapskates way of saving money on Mobile calls in the USA.

Lets face it, most of us are married to mobile phones (what, luddite in the corner – you aren’t… oh go and look at some airplane p0rn instead). Unfortunately the moment you step out of the realms of the European Union (or European Economic Area) prices skyrocket.

Lets take a simple 1 minute call home from LGA to the dark murky depths of Essex

“Home” Operators – the big UK 5 (T-Mobile UK, Vodafone UK,Orange UK, O2-UK, 3-UK

Notes: Rates are consumer rates, published on their company web sites. Business
rates probably and do vary. Virgin, TalkMobile, TescoMobile and a peflora of
other providers ignored as I have a life.

There are dedicated “Travel SIMS” too. Again, based on that one minute phone call…

	Receive:	Send
SIM4Travel	89p/minute,	£1.19
Story Telecom	I don’t know. The site was crashing on me

As it can be seen… there can only be one word to describe the costs of keeping in contact with our nearest and dearest. CON!

So dear reader – how can we beat those people? Providing you have an unlocked Quad Band phone (or even Triple Band), life becomes a lot simpler (or if you’re REALLY lazy, pick up a phone when you get there – but more on that in a bit).

Which network?

The Two “Big” Networks as far as we’re concerned are T-Mobile USA and AT&T; Mobility (again there are MVNO’s, but we’re not interested in them in this article). You might see Verizon and Sprint -we’re not concerned about them as they run on CDMA (and it’s peculiarities of
not having SIM cards)

The process is

• Buy a SIM Card (either in the UK or in the USA)
• Register it (Know your hotel address and zip code by heart – do it onlinto avoid talking to a person)
• Top Credit Up
• Go!

As usual, check the coverage maps of the two providers (AT&T; and T-Mobile) to see which suits you best.

If you have a Quad Band Phones, I’d suggest AT&T; (AT&T; PAYG runs on 850) over T-Mobile. For Tri-Band phones, T-Mobile runs successfully on the 1900 band. However it could be worth looking at the table below.

Now the costs:

Now that is a bit shocking isn’t it?

It’s possible also to pick up PAYG phone kits in the shops (I tend to find an unsuspecting CVS or Walgreens). A basic Nokia 2610 will set you back about $21 (+whatever tax… so think about £14) and then dispose of the SIM card after you finish and pick a new one each time you head out.

Thoughts

Depending on who you’re with will depend on what you spend. If you’re stuck with your current provider and MUST have a UK number, a trip to a T-Mobile shop for a SIM Card, an unlocked QuadBand phone could be a good answer. If you’re more free and easy, either get an unlocked Quad Band phone and a AT&T; SIM, or buy a kit out there, register the card and pay less for the calls.

Remember -

• If you have voicemail, deactivate it as you’re paying to pick it up and for people to leave messages
• Switch off the phone to be cruel
• Tell people to “beep” you on the phone, and ring back if you’re using the AT&T; sim trick. Alternatively, pick up as it’s cheaper to receive than to give if you have to use your UK phone
• Consider Skype or whatever VOIP as a backup – Again – cheap as chips if you can be in one place.
• Every penny counts. Be a bit frugal. After all.. if you’re away – you probably DON’T want to be contacted

(Apologies for the messed up layout. I’m still getting used to the uselessness that’s Blogger..

It’s amazing how far a little bit of body paint goes.

(There’s a game here too – called “Spot the CEO”).

An excellent bit of advertising – not as viral as the Delta Safety Video, but still pretty good…

Well this blog has been slightly well timed, as I’m off to Philly next week (my timing is improving), but a post on Flyertalk (see: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-airways-dividend-miles/953330-shouldve-booked-british-airways-london.html) has got me thinking why I didn’t go direct and why I’ve routed myself around the wrekin.

And suddenly it came into sharp focus. That wonderful customer orientated airline. Those smiling employees that make a scowl look friendly. Those wonderful gate agents. THAT airport with its unorgainsied queuing system. The aircraft that quiet frankly need to spend a few weeks in Mojave sunning their wings or getting its wings wet in Kemble.

Of course, I’m talking about US Airways and the joy of PHL airport.

Now I could had chosen a simple LHR-PHL with US and be done with it. But then there are core facts:

• It’s US Airways
• 767-200 aircraft deployed. For those who aren’t airgeeks, these aircraft, whilst refurbed at the front of the plane, are quite frankly decrepit at the back with the broken seats, no individual IFE (and yes, Ghetto IFE would be a fix here)
• Pay for headphones (I’m struggling to think of one carrier who charges for headphones long haul)
• Seat pitch that is tighter that a pair of shrunken pants (oops. I’m sorry I put that image in your head. Sorries!)

Alternatively I could choose BA and skip the miles … (stop laughing down the back please), or I could take advantage of the extra miles with a connection each way and fly UA.

What do you think I chose?

I want to fly an airline that should look after me. I want to fly in some sort of comfort.

Yes. I want.

But I think US needs to remember a business lesson – THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT – WITHOUT THEM THERE IS NO PAY DAY.

Why oh WHY can’t airlines can’t do a TINY bit of testing and design work when they build their websites?

Today’s little rant really is pointed at my “home” airline – BMI, but other companies guilty of such annoyances include US Airways, Alatalia, Ryanair, etc.

We all know that data changes, and the way we handle it changes (that includes the dweebs at GCHQ and Jacqui Smith, MP for Redditch – Commons Expense Fiddler and executor of idiot schemes like the UK National ID Card), but I’d wish companies do a TINY bit of testing from a Users Point of View.

A lot of development is focus on “if the code works”, and this is fine and good if it helps technically, but having an operational user interface with everything tested (especially with data transfers). If you don’t …. well here’s a small list of what’s wrong with the BMI web site at the moment:

• Phantom duplicate entries appearing
• Date of expiry of status has gone on holiday
• Password retrieval function broken – have to phone ICC to reset
• Spend Miles now completely broken.
• Impossible to change email address on account
• People have been moved to Canada, and when attempting to update, reverts back to Canada.

Now that is an ugly picture isn’t it? Well tested… my cute little backside.

An appeal to programmers: next time you test something, get FULL user testing, and to people who accept these, run full user testing, do a beta and pilot, but please TEST THE DARN THING BEFORE YOU DEPLOY IT!

More ranting next week!

A feature I’m going to do when I can be bothered is Airplane p0rn… or pretty pictures I’ve taken on my travels.

So first off is…

A Delta 767-300 landing at Manchester Airport.
It’s just nice to see the water being kicked in the air as it the plane lands.

IFE (In-Flight Entertainment) is in so many words something to keep you occupied when you’re trapped in a small seat crossing distances far and wide. This is very common amongst long haul and short haul aircraft across the world (well.. except in Short Haul in Europe it seems where the only thing you get is a seat to sit in – and that’s if you’ve been good). But there are of course – variations of IFE (depending on where you sit on the plane sometimes). Here’s a few of them:

• PTV AVOD (Audio/Visual on demand)
• PTV Rolling
• Big Screen
• Audio Only

A Modern IFE System – Continental Boeing 777-200 (Economy Class  – Panasonic EX2)

A bad example of AVOD – US Airways Airbus A330 (Economy – Rockwell system)

A (Bad) Example of PTV (Rolling) with BMI (Just before Takeoff – Y Class)

And finally on the Big Screen (United 747 – Economy)

So these are great – except what if there is nothing to watch… or even worse, you’re on a flight and suddenly realise there is NO IFE/Very Poor IFE?

My Solution: Build your own system! (What? I’m a geek. I’m allowed to think of a technical solution)

Now if you’re going to do this make sure
1) You switch on your portable electronic device when you’re allowed to,
2) Make sure you have spare sickbags (if you’re nauseous in the air)
3) make sure you don’t rip the bag too much so that your precious media device ends up on the floor and
4) Prepare be laughed at – or watch people copying you…

So – a method:

• rip hole in baggie
• rip hole large enough for screen
• rip hole in side so you can plug your headset in
• mount onto seat back
• enjoy entertainment

and you get of these….

Ghetto IFE installed on a US Airways 757 

or even if the aircraft has IFE…

On of these (United 767) 

On a BA 747 

On a BA 777

Of course you could watch it in your hand or lap, but there is a lot of strain doing that. Why strain when you do thing slightly less elegantly? Simples!

After some attempts at starting a blog (some of which were complete failures, and some of which are still going), I’ve decided to focus my energies on a new blog that hopefully 1) I’ll keep up to date and 2) people might read

So what is the point of this blog? I’m still not sure, but I’m covering a few keywords here to start with:

• Getto IFE (In-Flight Entertainment )
• Flying>
• Trip reports
• Photography
• Some random IT Geekiness
• and anything else that I can think of

There will be of course, very bad humour on this blog – but those who know me know this already

Some content will of course be mirrored from my existing photoblog, I’ll try and keep away from the the so called Bloggers philosophy. Honest

There will be signs of dust here until I’ve got this ready to go… so please excuse my mess…