rjones28 

Rowan

I ran a fixed gear with a Biopace chainring on it. I never threw a chain, and I think tight chains on FGs are a fallacy.

Dan333SP

Sorry to hear that, Judd. My condolences to you guys.

Dan333SP

Almost sounds like someone was magically fleecing you to buy more cloud space you weren't even using.

I still have an iPhone and there are all kinds of quirks with the cloud storage that annoy me. Like if I want to edit a photo, but I've saved the high quality version in the cloud to save space, for some reason it won't let me save edits.

Not a big deal because laptop, but still needlessly stupid. My next phone will be a Samsung most likely. Expandable memory ftw.

Bah Humbug

I have a Windows Phone, but it's not remotely for everyone.

The "Genius Bar" is overrated, and Apple service in general. When Mom's iPhone started refusing to take a charge (not discharging quickly, it would literally not go up in power when plugged in) they heard "battery" and went into their talk about closing unused apps and, among other things, asked her "ma'am, have you ever used a computer before?". Then when they finally realized and acknowledged the problem they said they had to order her a replacement phone and said (three times!) "we'll call you when it's in", without listening to or realizing that the phone would be dead by then and they had to email.

Slightly less reliable than a valet.

BillyD

Yeah, because now you're like 4 seconds behind the aisle seat guy.

WhyFi

Very sad to hear - condolences.

Trsnrtr

Very sad.

Bah Humbug

Oof, I'm sorry. Really is a depressing week around this place.

WalksOn2Wheels

Wow. Condolences to you, her family and the family of the young boy who was killed. Very tragic all around.

WalksOn2Wheels

Absolutely. I was a total greenhorn and realized right away that people are pretty silly trying to rush on and off of planes. It was American Airlines, so we had assigned seating, yet people still hurried to get in line as fast as possible. Then as soon as we were parked, people would be jumping out of their seats and rushing for the overhead luggage before the doors had even opened, so they all stood in the middle of the aisle for a few minutes. I just sat back and waited.

It's kind of like car traffic. It's 100% out of your control and unless you have an absolute emergency, whatever you're headed to is going to be waiting for you. Why get heated about a little lost time?

indyfabz

Competition for overhead bin space.


Last month I flew first class to Montana. Don't ever want to go back to coach.

rpenmanparker 

The more opportunities you give to an airline to screw you over, the greater the chance they will. Get on the plane as soon as you can. It is common for someone to get left off at the end. "Oops, sorry, we miscounted the seats."

And overhead storage space goes fast. If you want a place to put your bag near your seat, you can't dawdle. "Oops, sorry, there is no more overhead room, but I can check that for you. You can pick it up at our ridiculously inefficient baggage claim at your destination."

Get off as soon as you can. When on business, you don't have the luxury of waiting all day to deplane.

It isn't a coincidence that all the most frequent flyers are taking advantage of their privilege of boarding first. And they make sure they are sitting right up front of coach so they can get off fastest at the destination. Those folks (c'est moi) know what they are doing.

Air travel is a matter of the quick and the screwed. Be one of the quick.

WalksOn2Wheels

1) Assigned seats. Not getting left off.

2) Don't be an idiot and bring your maximum allowed carry on size luggage stuffed to the gills. A small backpack is probably enough to survive and can fit under a seat if needed. Granted, it was 25 bucks to check a bag. In my case, the company was paying for it and I only checked my tools because you can't carry those on a plane. Something about not wanting people to take the airplane apart while in motion. As far as baggage claim, both ends were super efficient.

3) My business is a little more relaxed.

indyfabz

Security fencing going up around Comcast headquarters, no doubt due to anticipated protests. Next week in the city of brotherly love should be interesting.

jtaylor996

Thanks for the condolences guys. My friend was a very special person.

She grew up under Pol Pot in Cambodia, and she was in one of the camps for a while, where her younger brother died of starvation. She made it to the US at about age 9 or 10. Then later her older brother died of a heart attack at 40, and now she gets hit by a tree at 39. It was just such shocking news. If there's anyone out there that can survive anything in the world (and had), it was her.

She's leaving behind 4 kids and a husband. Her oldest is still in Canada, and may make it back today (he wasn't injured, but they're back at base camp now, which is still 4 hours from an airport). What a mess. She was literally everybody I know's best friend.

jtaylor996

Assigned seats mean nothing. They aren't assigned exclusively. I can't count the number of times 2 people get on the same flight and both have the same assigned seat. Whoever gets there first is the one that doesn't have to get off the plane.

Big carry ons work great if it means you don't have to check a bag. Depends on how long you're going to be somewhere. Landing in Tampa without a checked bag means you're in your car driving away 10 minutes after touchdown. Some airports it's not such a big deal, though.

rpenmanparker 

When you travel with coworkers, you will be less popular than a cyclist who gets 3 flats on a ride if you check baggage. Of course, business-specific baggage that can't be carried on is an exception, but there is absolutely no tolerance for coworkers that check personal baggage.

And of course there is the lost baggage risk that is very real except when you carry everything on. I have had to conduct a very formal seminar in jeans and a sweater that I bought at the destination in Amsterdam, because my luggage was lost. It wasn't cheap. I learned the hard way. Take no chances.

Keep in mind that frequent fliers don't pay to check bags, and yet they still don't. There is a reason for that.

WalksOn2Wheels

I never said anything about personal luggage. Only the work related stuff. And if I'm going anywhere, I'm going to need tools so a bag is going to be checked, period. And again, even if I needed to take nice clothes (which I wouldn't) you can make a very small piece of luggage work. No reason to lug around more stuff than you need and for sure, I wouldn't trust the airline with my personal stuff. If the work stuff disappears, it's not like I could do anything about that. I would find a way to make my job happen, even if it meant stopping at a Sears or whatever to buy tools.

WalksOn2Wheels

That seems pretty insane. I'm sure just about anyone has more experience than me on this, so I'm not doubting you, but it still seems like they would have to work really hard to double book a single seat. It would seem that computers would make that nearly impossible.

rpenmanparker 

It is insane, yet it happens all the time. You always want to be the one already sitting in the seat when the other assignee shows up.

I may seem like a novice compared to my son-in-law who travels constantly, and I still accrued 1.6 million actual miles on Continental/United alone over my career. Plus probably another 0.5 million miles on all other airlines. Trust me. The "rules" have been developed for good reasons.

If you will be travelling some, be sure to join a frequent flier club with your most likely airline. Be loyal to them, and they will treat you very well. Don't spread your travel among other airlines any more than you absolutely must. The benefits for your family will be very significant. Same re: hotels and rental cars. Free travel is a marvelous thing.

And using the credit card sponsored by your preferred airline is very helpful too.

jtaylor996

I hate to blow your mind here, but computers don't prevent this because its intentional. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

PepeM

I wonder if it happens in other countries.

PepeM

Not that I travel much but ALL of my bad experiences have been on US based airlines.

WalksOn2Wheels

I had to google it just to understand the why, and then it became immediately clear: money. They want to overbook so that they can fill seats if someone is a no show. It looks as if I had the advantage by checking in online well in advance thanks to the people at the office.