Air Travel - I'd Rather Go By Car

Been a part of too many projects for technical work run by executives who think it's a pure arbitrage to replace talented engineers with less than minimum wage workers overseas. Always a nightmare to work and disaster in the end. And these were always multi-million dollar projects, so I never understood why a few extra thousand couldn't be afforded for local engineers who actually knew what they're doing...
 
All too common now with complex and opaque supply chains with no one really accepting overall control of how it all works together. Across all industries rapidly globalizing. My understanding of the IT/software industries is that most companies will outsource at least some of the development to sub-suppliers in Eastern Europe, China or India. You think you're getting the hot shot dynamic dude and his team who came to see you from London, but actually they've outsourced it straight away overseas. No difference to the rag and other trades in that respect.

In the pipe, fittings and flanges industry it is estimated that over 20% of the products on the market are fake. Here's an industry led initiative:
http://www.fight-fake.org/

From the article on Boeing it looks like they fell for the trap that Indian companies are operating at the same level of their Boeing system engineers and they could out source cheaply and effectively with no risk. Anyone's who visited the Indian Tiger can tell you it's still a caste ridden hell hole. But also looks like they've had no real skill set to deal with the globalized supply chain which remains high risk for bespoke manufacturing or R&D.
 
What? You mean if I get 1000 $9/hr engineers in a room I can't deliver in 2 days what 2 proper engineers would in multiple years for the same project?
 
People do realize MD means McDonnell Douglas - the makers of DC10.
 
My most recent contribution to this thread is my flight from JFK to ORF got canceled 9pm on Sunday night. Apparently Delta couldn't figure out how to get me home until Monday night so I had to rent a car and drive back from New York all through the night.

So I guess I did go by car.
 
We got delayed coming back from Crete last May. There was a storm and our plane the speed sensors froze so they landed at the airport other side of the island. The only problem was we were already in the departure lounge and I had some duty free. They bused us to a hotel the other side of the island and we were further delayed with fallen trees. We had a couple of hours there, a room, pool, free bar and food and then we eventually had a different plane and took off from a mega busy airport at nearly midnight. We got Euros 400 each in compensation. It's obviously cheaper for the airlines to fly a new crew and plane out as it starts to become expensive when you are delayed much longer. In the end, it was quite an adventure.
 

"While the Concorde was used primarily for transatlantic flights, Stratofly would likely be reserved for longer journeys. It could zip from New York City to Sydney, Australia, in about three hours, according to the consortium, or make the trip from Los Angeles to Tokyo in about an hour and 45 minutes."

Same day commute to/from APAC. Whilst the distances are shorter, taking off during night and showing up in daytime will be a bit disturbing with such a short flight.
 
I wish I had done something like this when I was younger:

ONE THAI MAN’S EPIC OVERLAND JOURNEY FROM THE UK TO BANGKOK IN 1970

 

Flight shame? How will my C-suite peers in the US ever make it to the office without a plane?

Two weeks by rail to China isn't a holiday. It's akin to being a scantily clad woman walking through a crime infested neighbourhood. You're gagging for trouble.
 

"Air New Zealand has announced it could have flat beds in economy for some of its long-haul flights, but it will be more than a year before customers could get the chance to sleep in one of the new pod beds.

The airline said on Wednesday it had filed patent and trademark applications for what it is calling the Economy Skynest. The Skynest would contain six full-length sleep pods at 200cm long and 58cm wide each. There will be three levels of beds and two beds on each level."

Reckon there is a surcharge for this. 3 levels - what if you're in the middle of two snoring blokes.
 

It looks like I won't be flying for awhile even if they extend my status.

Global business travel isn't going to return anytime soon. So too, long haul flights to exotic vacation locations. Who can afford to get lock downed in a 5 star paradise for the duration? The biggest hit I reckon the mega-cruise line ships.
 
We aren't about to let any fuckers, from USA especially, in anytime soon
 

"From Monday, US carrier Delta said it requires passengers to wear a mask or other face covering in the check-in area, premium lounges, boarding gate areas and onboard planes for the whole flight."

In the lounge too? What's the point of going to a lounge if you're going to be wrapped up like the bad guy from The Mummy?
 

No booze on airplanes? How are we supposed to calm our nerves and pass the time?

That's rather disturbing, but I think flights will end up being mega-expensive for quite sometime. I'm not concerning myself with business or holiday flights for the next 18 months I reckon.
 
I’m going to try to get a full cash refund on two sets of cancelled family vacation flights that are currently just credits. I don’t see us flying anywhere in the next year and I suspect those eight return flights are only going to be worth about two flights soon.
 
Over the summer, they are selling 50K public transport passes here. 8 days of public transport all over Denmark, for 45$.
Just picked one up, and plan to go to Copenhagen for a few days, instead of flying anywhere over the summer.
 
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